Time to Leave, Storm Phoenix
by Wolf River Sam
Summary: Left in his relatives care for the second time after witnessing someone close to him die and having his friends refuse to tell him anything is too much for young Harry Potter, and when an opportunity arises for him to leave it all behind, he decides he has nothing keeping him in Britain anymore. AU, Partial Adaptation to Blood Brandy's Vegas Challenge, eventually. Grey!Harry
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter. I don't make any profit from this story. This is fan-fiction.**

 **= Chapter 1 =**

It was the summer after the fifth year at Hogwarts, and Harry Potter was once again left alone, grieving for his lost godfather in solitude at his hateful relatives. The Dursleys had been less than eager to take him in after the Dementor attack earlier that year, but had folded under the pressure from the Order of the Phoenix, and no doubt more than a few words from Dumbledore.

They had been mostly leaving Harry alone in his room, content to pretend they did not have a freak of a nephew living under the same roof, just as Harry was more than happy to ignore them for most of his summer time prison sentence with his relatives.

Harry had hoped to hear from his friends during June, and at the early weeks of July, but when July came closer to its end that hoped had dwindled and finally shriveled away. It was another nail to the already near-dead friendships he had once treasured, but after Ron's betrayal in fourth year nothing was the same, and the absence of any letters last summer had hurt, leaving even the connection with Hermione frayed and worn.

He had still considered her a friend, unlike Ronald whom he was merely tolerating for the sake of avoiding another outburst, but a second summer in a row without any messages, after he had seen another person die in front of him, was enough proof that he was not as important to his friends as they had been to him.

With a quiet sniff he wiped his eyes to the dirty sleeve of his oversized second-hand clothes, silently wondering what was the point anymore. The scarred words 'I shall tell no lies' on the back of his hand showed him what the magical society thought of him most of the time. They cheered when he was winning and then went back to suspecting him of everything that went wrong.

Sirius was dead, the Ministry was finally acting but the Death Eaters had already had a year to gather their strength, and Voldemort was out there looking to kill him and everyone else that refused to bow to him. Dumbledore revealed the prophecy and how he had left Harry to the Dursleys knowing what lay ahead of him. His former friends no longer even cared to stay in touch with him despite his letters to them and the order. In short, Harry Potter saw very little reason to care about the magical society in Britain anymore.

While he was entertaining these dark thoughts a loud rapping could be heard at his window, catching his attention and forcing him to sit up. Seeing a regal, black owl behind the window he hesitated not knowing who's owl it was before noticing the letter in its leg and the signet of Gringott's on the wax seal upon it, prominently on display.

Moving over to open the window and let the courier owl inside, Harry set down some water and owl treats for the owl before reaching over to remove the letter from the owl in question. Turning to read the letter as the owl moved to partake in his offering, Harry quietly wondered how soon Hedwig would be back from her latest flight, but figured she might scowl at him for letting another owl perch on her favorite spot inside the room. Not that he was even asked.

Breaking the wax seal Harry could _feel_ the wash of magic over him, seeming to confirm something as he felt a brief warmth around him before it settled away, allowing Harry to focus on the contents of the letter instead.

 _"Mr. Harry James Potter,_

 _We here at Gringotts have been trying to reach you for several weeks already, finding our owls intercepted and redirected to your supposed magical guardian. He has insisted that he holds your full trust and the authority to act in your name, but your godfather's Will is very precise in its instructions._

 _The owl delivering this is one of Gringott's Priority Courier Owls, resistant to all known hexes, wards and jinxes that might alter an owl's course. In addition, the letter you hold has a charm upon it to burn the said letter and severely mutilate the hands of anyone else but the intended recipient if they attempt to open the letter without express permission from the recipient._

 _We believed this necessary as Mr. Black has already stipulated that your illegal incarceration at your relatives 'care' under your supposed magical guardian Albus Dumbledore's orders is preventing you from learning about a number of things that have been kept from you._

 _Having sworn an oath on what he said was true, Mr. Black has been able to have your parents will partially unsealed. It has not been executed, but confirmed a few facts meaning Gringotts has a legal ground to assist you given another priority client has requested our services on your behalf._

 _Your vaults have been undergoing an audit, and all removals beyond those you performed in person have been voided, money removed from your supposed magical guardian's vaults to compensate for that which has been taken without your permission. Your family and financial vaults have been under orders to remain sealed until your 17th birthday or emancipation, but your trust vault has been accessed under suspicious circumstances by Albus Dumbledore, Molly Weasley, and Ronald Weasley in the past years._

 _Seeing as Albus Dumbledore is the sole other person with access to your vault and permission to add or remove people from the access list, he is held accountable for all the losses accrued. Given the will states he was never legally your guardian, any removal, with a good reason or not, was illegal and hence all money plus interest has been retrieved from the Dumbledore family and personal vaults._

 _We have delayed sending notice to him as per your Godfather's instructions, instead sending this message to you along with a port-key enchantment tied to the parchment itself. The activation phrase for its use should be familiar to you according to his instructions, being one he used for another wondrous piece of parchment in the past._

 _We request you make your presence known at Gringotts as soon as possible, so we can unseal both your godfather's and your parents wills and carry out the rest of the instructions._

 _To summarize, you will find yourself emancipated given that A) you have already completed your OWLs, obtaining wand-rights, B) you have been forced to partake in an event classed by ministry as restricted to adult wizards or witches only, and lastly C) because you have already been tried before the whole Wizengamot which is only done with adult witches or wizards. Given that you are nearly 16, and thus merely a year from adulthood in any case, your situation is sufficient to declare your emancipation fait accompli, or already established fact._

 _Your godfather also left behind a letter to be only handed to you directly, as well as the bundle of instructions to our bank, and the said will which can be read publically once you have attended the private will-reading prior to the public one._

 _There will be much more to discuss, but I trust you have heard enough by now to agree that we should conduct this business in person._

 _Yours in Trust, Honor and Profit,_

 _Skulltaker - Senior Account Manager at Gringotts London."_

Silently swallowing as he thought back at Sirius, Harry felt the loss even harder at the mention of a will, but at the same time he was grateful that Sirius had gone to such lengths for him.

Looking over at the parchment silently, Harry debated with himself whether or not he should go. He had bad experiences with portkeys, but if Voldemort had a plot against him the letter would have activated as soon as he touched it, and the seal and the owl seemed perfectly legit to him. Furthermore, while some of the contents in the letter were hard to believe, the pass-phrase referred to here did make him take it seriously, and the points it illustrated made a scary amount of sense.

Thinking back at how he was being treated by the Order, and the magical society in Britain as a whole, Harry wondered why he even hesitated in the first place. Even falling into Voldemort's arms to be killed and sent to his parents arms in the afterlife would be better than being Dumbledore's marionette to dance along the strings until it was his time to die. The old man had played him a fool long enough, and without any training Harry was highly doubtful the old man ever meant for Harry to survive in the first place.

Gathering his belongings to his trunk and holding onto it securely, Harry made sure his wand was in his pocket at ready while he grasped onto the trunk with one hand, the other holding to the letter. Just as he was about to speak the pass-phrase, he saw Dumbledore's phoenix flame into his room and trill, dropping a letter from its grasp before vanishing off with a flash.

Hesitating a moment, Harry picked up a pair of dragon hide gloves from his trunk now wary of the possibility of a portkey, and only then lifted up the new letter to take a look at it. He was suspicious of Dumbledore just as he was suspicious of Voldemort, but this letter's timely arrival made him wonder just how closely he was being watched.

 _"Harry,_

 _It is imperative that you stay at the Dursleys until at least the second week of August to help recharge the wards, it is also not safe for you out here, ever since your fight at the ministry the death eaters have been looking for vengeance._

 _I am aware that the goblins of Gringotts have apparently chosen to disregard my instructions to spare you from having to attend the will reading for Sirius Black as I fear it would harm you more than it would help, with his loss so fresh on your mind. You need time to mourn, so I ask that you don't do anything rash but allow me to take care of things for you._

 _In due time I will send the Order to bring you over to the Burrow, but for now you must stay where you are, it is not safe for you to leave your sanctuary just now._

 _Albus Percival Wulfric Brian Dumbledore"_

Reading through the letter had Harry frowning but shaking his head. He shoved it to the other pocket in his pants, careful to avoid the one with his wand, then packing the dragon hide gloves back in his trunk and grasping the first letter from Gringotts.

"Thank you for your help, I'll leave the window open so you can leave on your own." Harry smiled to the black, regal owl watching him curiously now, as Harry drew a deep breath and then spoke the words.

"I solemnly swear I am up to no good."

As soon as he had said this he could feel the familiar distortion of being yanked from where he was standing, only to land roughly on his feet and bending his knees to not stumble onto his face within a weird chamber somewhere underground. A hollow tower seemed to rise above him, its roof elevated by pillars, the only exit on ground level a single door which at the time was still and quiet, with a door chain besides it.

Pulling upon the chain briefly, Harry waited a moment before there was a click and the door was pulled back to reveal a group of five goblin warriors in full war gear followed by an older goblin man who had the presence of a man to be respected, if the lowered gaze of the warriors was anything to go by along with his apparent confidence that Harry could read from the older goblin's stride.

"Mr. Potter, I am glad you could make it so soon. Come right this way. That entrance is reserved for our discrete customers who don't want to arrive by the standard entrance, and only safe for one holding to a goblin made portkey, which appeared to be another point your godfather made clear was necessary in order to liberate you from your jailors."

"Thank you sir, and I was just about to leave when Dumbledore's phoenix did appear, carrying a letter from him instructing me to hold still, so I imagine that without the portkey I would have been held back regardless of my wishes." Harry spoke in a serious tone, earning a solemn nod from the goblin man who seemed less than pleased to hear this.

"Mr. Dumbledore has no allies and very few goblins are on even friendly terms with him. Cordial, given his position in the Wizengamot, but that is all. His actions with your accounts would see any other wizard barred from Gringotts for life, as well as confiscation of their assets and the proof of crimes handed over to Wizengamot. Given how those papers would pass before his desk before being brought to discussion I imagine you can see where the problem lies though?" The goblin spoke in a serious tone while leading Harry through the hallways.

"I don't understand, how could the Minister have him sacked and removed so easily last year then?" Harry asked more than a little confused, while the goblin let out a heavy sigh sounding weary and tired at the time.

"Nothing but a stunt by a showman, Mr. Potter. Albus Dumbledore could have dug his nails in and had Fudge fired as soon as the man slandered Dumbledore and yourself, and would have held the respect of the Wizengamot for refusing to allow such ridicule without any proof behind it. The sole reason things played out as they did was that Dumbledore _chose_ not to exercise the powers his office granted to him."

Another nail to the coffin of Harry's trust towards the headmaster and his order, and a dozen of them for the thoughts of staying in Britain any longer than necessary. At this point, he was more inclined to take his money and do a runner. Sirius was dead, the Weasleys were traitors, Dumbledore was a manipulative old goat, and Hermione was either in on the plot or too blinded by her authority worship to see it.

"I see. You said in the letter I was emancipated, does that mean I could withdraw from Hogwarts, leave Britain and seek magical education elsewhere on my own terms? Also, um can I transfer money elsewhere when I leave or would I have to pack it up and take it with me physically?" He found this a bit of a sticking point, the amount of wealth in just his trust vault was enough to discourage him of the idea of carrying it all on his person when leaving Gringotts, and besides he figured the goblins would rather find another solution to secure his gold for him than see it leave the bank as well.

"Yes to the emancipation, yes to withdrawing, and yes to finding another means for acquiring your education. Another school or tutors are both an option, and if you prefer you could do self-study and test out after a certain period of time. As for the finances, worry not Mr. Potter Gringotts maintains a number of banks across the world. If you wish we can transfer your wealth to one of the other branches the same day we hand you a portkey to that country along with a suitable amount of money to cover the transfer period of one or two business days." The goblin spoke in a calm tone of voice, seeming at ease once the topic switched back to finances at least.

"Good, then I would like to get started with all of that as soon as we've dealt with the emancipation and private will-reading. No offense towards Gringotts but I don't feel either I or my money is safe in Britain, the recent events have eroded any trust I might have held towards either the headmaster or the Ministry, and I don't want them drafting me to the Aurors or trying to blackmail me by my family funds." Harry winced at the thought of that. He could get by with little, living at Dursleys had taught that lesson, but he really did not want to see his parents money land in the greedy hands of the Weasleys, the Ministry, or Dumbledore.

"If you wouldn't mind handing out the letter you said that Dumbledore sent you we can present it as evidence of attempt to tamper with the will-reading of the Head of Most Ancient and Noble House of Black by removing the primary beneficiary from the will-reading entirely, leaving said will vulnerable to challenge from other living relatives of the Black family. Although your godfather's instructions neuter those voices rather efficiently." There was a wicked grin on the goblin's face, and Harry was quickly reminded that the goblins were indeed warrior folks. Another note, nobody should have teeth that sharp and white, a shark would have been envious of them.

"Oh, it is in my left pocket, I stuffed it there with dragon hide gloves as I was suspicious his letter might be a portkey since it was delivered in haste by Dumbledore's phoenix. How that man can hold onto a Phoenix is beyond me though." Harry shook his head finding the whole thought puzzling.

"That would be easy, seeing as Albus Dumbledore doesn't have any bond with Phoenixes, only Hogwarts does. Hogwarts has had a phoenix since times immemorial, though the latest prints of Hogwarts a history have all censored that fact, and few older people seem to consider it a fact worth mentioning. There's also the fact that said phoenix is bound to serve the Headmaster as long as they maintain control of the castle and its wards, unless their claim to their position is never approved by Hogwarts itself. This has only happened a few times, and said headmasters were the worst in Hogwarts history."

Harry's eyes had widened at this little tidbit, and the thought of how Hermione would have sputtered and stared at him if he told her that little detail about her favorite book and its censoring almost made him smile again. If only he could be sure about her, but he could not risk it, especially when he was planning to leave all of them behind. It was the second summer in a row they abandoned him, a death weighing heavily on his shoulders. Ron was beyond shedding any tears for, but losing Hermione hurt.

Nevertheless, at the time the goblin man slipped on his hand a sturdy glove before reaching to Harry's left pocket that he had indicated, carefully pulling out Dumbledore's letter before holding it up. A spear's tip was thrust through the corner to hold it aloft and carry it along by one of the two guards following them, while the goblin manager kept going as if nothing happened, drawing the glove off of his hand casually at the time.

"Now, Mr. Dumbledore's suspicious activities with your trust vault aside, the sealing of your parents will is highly suspect as your placement was against explicit orders outlined there, and the fact it named Mr. Black as your oath-given Godfather and that your secret keeper was Peter Pettigrew all stand out as very serious black marks upon Mr. Dumbledore's tenure as your magical guardian. So is the fact that their will states that Lily Potter insisted upon sending you out of Britain to receive a _quality_ magical education as opposed to the 'dumped down version' taught in Britain to appease the Pureblood elite." His expression showed his displeasure at this turn of phrase, and Harry had to pause on hearing it as well.

"Is it really that bad?" He asked this before he even really thought on it, realizing just how blinded he too had been about it. Of course it was bad. They had a bloody ghost for history who taught nothing relevant, they had the most obnoxious and unhelpful teacher possible in potions, the care of magical creatures was run by a well-meaning but incompetent man, whatever good things he did want to say about Hagrid did not change the fact the man was not ready to teach, and divination was a joke at best, and on the other subjects, he could just wonder how out of date their books were, and defense wasn't worth a mention.

"I see by your expression you already know the answer, but yes, Hogwarts has dropped several classes such as magical customs, alchemy, battle-magic has been watered down to the defense against the dark arts, the dark arts themselves are not taught at all, which Durmstrang does and despite what you may hear they are not evil, they just believe in being prepared. It is harder to find a counter-curse if you don't know what curse was used against you, after all. Then there are the classes in enchanting, healing, warding, magical arts, spell-making to continue what basics are taught in Arithmancy, and rituals." The goblin man allowed a weary sigh to escape his lips.

"Truthfully your British OWLs too are going to be looked upon with some suspicion, though they will be accepted, but it would be wise to do some additional studying and sign up for OWLs abroad to acquire more respected scores from more respected authority. The sole fact that ICW watches those grades closely is the only reason the purebloods aren't being awarded highest grades and muggle-born and half-bloods facing a grade or two grade reduction on their own scores, and even then the OWLs and NEWTs have to be run by the minimal grades, only the British Outstanding plus gets notice abroad as it tends to translate to at least Exceed Expectations in the international grades list."

Harry was baffled at how bad Hogwarts was, and quietly added McGonagall's name on the list as a con-man in charge of luring muggle-born in with false promises and claims that could not really be backed up at all then. Hogwarts might be the 'finest school in Britain' but 'the world' was a very clumsy lie and false advertisement. He silently wondered what it would do to Hermione's authority worship if he got his hands on undeniable proof of this and sent it to her later on. Finding himself still thinking about her this much though he quietly forced himself to let go of it at least for now. He could not tell for sure about her, but it would be safer to assume her to be in Dumbledore's camp and be proven wrong than to trust her and be returned to Dursleys and likely obliviated of all that he had learned.

"Then that is the last piece of evidence I needed to confidently say I am planning to leave Britain behind for good, hopefully by the time we are done with business here today, if that is possible to arrange? And would it be possible to make sure none of my money or assets is left behind either?" He looked at the goblin man he was walking with who seemed to think about it a moment.

"It will take a couple of hours to arrange for the right documents and a valid international portkey approved. Gringotts has its own portkeys but we may not allow their use to non-staff members unless we have permission for a particular person from the magical side of the government in their destination country. If you are willing to wait within the bank for that time, it can be arranged however. In fact, some of Mr. Black's suspicions point out that you might benefit from being seen to by a healer with no loyalties to either the Ministry or Mr. Dumbledore, which would consume a portion of the time it would take to prepare everything." Looking at Harry thoughtfully the goblin man smirked faintly.

"It would carry an additional fee for the haste but with a priority client I believe it would be a modest sum. The investments however are another matter, if you wish to pull out Potter investments from Britain that will take more than a day, possibly more than a week, although it is doable in two days if you are willing to take some losses of selling at beneath market price. Calling in debts owed to the House of Potter and those owed to House of Black will likely take even longer and may even call for a court case and solicitors, but those can be handled from abroad just as easily." The goblin man smiled while pushing open a door and leading him to a lavish office, while the pair of guards halted to wait at the sides of the door, rather than following Harry and the goblin manager into the room.

"Now before we begin, I would like to introduce myself to you. While your initial message was sent by Skulltaker who is the senior account manager who has been keeping watch on both the House of Black and the House of Potter for the last few years I believed this situation was one of such importance I preferred to handle it myself. Mr. Potter I apologize for the late introductions, but I am Director Ragnok, the head of the Gringotts London."

 **= End of Chapter 1 =**

A/N: I'll start by admitting that I am just practicing how to write a story, and I hope people will recognize that the quality of the story may reflect that. I apologize for any cliché I may find myself writing or any plot bunnies I may leave behind by mistake for other people to stumble across. I am aiming to improve but I won't hide the fact that there likely will be some early mistakes and I hope to polish them out over time and some rewrites as necessary.

That said, this will be a partial adaptation to a Challenge I read before, named Blood Brandy's Vegas Wedding challenge. That means this story will be a Harry Potter crossover with Teen Titans and possibly more from DC verse.

I will be spending some time setting up the situation before the elements of the challenge will start popping up however, and I am at least at the early stage considering actually delaying the Vegas Wedding situation up until Harry's reached his 18th birthday. I am not entirely certain of the Teen Titans timeline, but I am considering having the ages more or less match each other so that by the time of the Vegas incident all involved will be of legal age to marry.

With that being said, I should note that this story is likely to involve some measure of bashing. The ones most likely to suffer from this are Severus Snape, Albus Dumbledore, Draco Malfoy, Ronald Weasley, Molly Weasley, and Ginevra Weasley in that order.

I consider Albus Dumbledore is one of two different possibilities. A well-intentioned but senile, bungling old meddler who doesn't really even begin to see the harm he is putting Harry through, waving it off as inconsequential, irrelevant, or surely exaggerated. This is if I am trying to see him as somewhat human but faulty, seriously faulty individual. However, especially in light of the last two books, I am far more convinced that Albus Dumbledore is a cold-blooded chess-master who believes that the ends justify the means, and believes that Harry's fate has already been sealed so his treatment up until that point is irrelevant as long as Albus Dumbledore gets what Albus Dumbledore wants. Manipulative, evasive, unhelpful but always willing to offer cryptic advice to give the impression he is actually on Harry's side, and more than happy to throw Harry into yet another challenge to test if he will sink or swim this time around.

Now, Severus Snape and Draco Malfoy have their share of love from some of the fandom, but personally I find both of them arrogant, sadistic bullies. With Severus, it seems deeply ingrained and given he willingly joined a terrorist organization, the death eaters, I don't think him worth even a thought of redemption. Draco Malfoy might be a bit more sympathetic figure considering he is what his parents made of him, but he never truly seemed to show any hesitation or concern unless it was about the risk of being caught. Both of them are the sort of people who will be bashed in this story if I run into a situation in writing where it seems appropriate to me.

The Weasleys, at least those named before, are a bit of a more complex mess. Molly's sanctimonious rants and howlers, as well as her treatment of Sirius in the man's own home are definitely points that make me wary of her. The potion talk about her and Mr. Weasley adds a more sinister feel to things, especially with how hen-pecked the man can be around her. Ronald's faults are a very long list, his betrayals are numerous, and he's proven himself a fair-weather friend at best, and a second generation Pettigrew in all likelihood. Ginevra is, unfortunately, a fan-girl and likely pushed by Mrs. Weasley to pursue her obsession.

I won't necessarily expend much effort in bashing the Weasleys, especially as I consider it possible that I am merely viewing them unfairly, but they will not play a large, positive role in this story at the least, as can already be seen from the first chapter.

I plan to take the plot from here to my own directions, steering back towards the adaptation of the Vegas Challenge in due time, but focusing first on the following 2 years before Harry reaches his 18th birthday. Also, despite this being an adaptation from Blood Brandy's challenge, no Sirius did not fake his death, he is actually dead, though I did decide to borrow the fact that he laid some groundwork down before his death.

Now, with all that said, I intend to keep writing with some 3k to 4k+ words per chapter, between the stated beginning and end of the chapter, with Author's note and disclaimer the length they happen to be in addition to that.


	2. Chapter 2

**Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter. I don't make any profit from this story. This is fan-fiction.**

 **= Chapter 2 =**

Setting down the large files on the table, Harry Potter drew a long breath before sighing loudly and shaking his head. Even if he wanted to deny it and hold on to hope that Molly Weasley's removals from his vaults were just to cover the costs of his books and school supplies, he had a difficult time explaining any payments made to Ronald Weasley in a way that didn't leave a bitter taste to his mouth.

Albus Dumbledore had been removing a sizable sum every year and had it converted into muggle pounds, and then removed it from the bank to deliver it personally. It was marked down to be paid to Harry's guardians, and given how the Dursleys had lived and spent Harry was pretty sure Dumbledore had indeed paid it forward to them. Not that none of it ever got spent on Harry. He had also removed a sum of galleons to be deposited in his own personal vault as payment for acting as Harry's magical guardian and proxy, although the said amount was notably higher than most magical guardians could claim.

Molly Weasley had been paid a small sum of galleons every year as well, in addition to sums taken to cover for his school supplies. Ronald Weasley in turn had received a sum of money to a newly made vault under his own name that he had restricted access to until he was of age, apparently as payment for services rendered. Thinking back at how Ron had practically bullied everyone else to stay away from him, even if he failed to do so with Hermione, it seemed rather obvious what Ron's task was. Always interrupting if Harry was talking to someone new, always trying to get Harry to stop studying and goof around instead.

"As you can see here on the last page, once we discovered the nature of these transactions we have put a stop to them, and reclaimed the amount paid to Dumbledore and the Dursleys in full along with interest by draining Albus Dumbledore's personal vault and a large chunk of his family vault. Since Molly Weasley made sure to withdraw the gold paid to her soon after it was placed into her account we have added that sum to the amount removed from Dumbledore's vaults. Ronald Billius Weasley was unable to access his vault yet, probably as a means to stop him from spending it too early, and has been recovered with any interest it had accrued, and the said vault closed. The latest payment to Molly Weasley was still in the vault and was removed from there immediately. Now, on top of the recovered money and interest there are Gringotts fees for unauthorized or fraudulent conduct, which have been leveraged against Dumbledore family assets." Clearing his throat at this the Director flashed another smirk with sharp, white teeth that would have made a shark envious.

"Seeing as his family vaults do not hold enough gold to cover the added weight of the fees and penalties, the Dumbledore family's share of stocks in various businesses is being liquidated. Normally we would allow you a chance to pick if you wished to claim some of them for yourself, but given your mention you wish to sell even your family's own assets in Britain it would seem counter-productive to add them to your accounts only to put them on sale a moment later under your name. Nonetheless, with the added fees and penalties this will mean the already dwindled Dumbledore family fortune will be diminished to a tenth of what it once was, without most of its assets to help them recover. We won't be touching the Hogshead Tavern however, as it is marked separate from the family assets, and additionally marked it will never go to Albus Dumbledore, being held by his brother instead, who seems less than friendly with Albus."

Nodding at this bit of news Harry let out a long breath. Hitting Dumbledore in the money pouch was probably the most he could do for now, the man held too much political power and was far too savvy to be caught in his schemes easily. Evidence would be circumstantial at best and witnesses would get harassed and doubted before the 'great vanquisher of Grindewald' in the Wizengamot especially now that they were all eager to apologize for doubting him earlier and wanting to make up for it. No, attacking the man directly was out for the moment, but financial ruin was another matter entirely.

"Well, now that we have settled that, we should get on with the pressing matter of the wills of both your parents and your late godfather. While I am sorry for your loss, having met Mr. Black and found him to be quite a character and more than willing to screw over other more pompous wizards, I must insist upon carrying these out now in order to achieve the goals you have already outlined of leaving Britain with your fortune." The director was looking at Harry seriously, the words having dug in. The topic of losing Sirius was still raw and sore, but Harry nodded his head in agreement.

"Yes sir, I believe if he made all these preparations he knew I should be getting the heck away from here by now. I miss him but I can honor him later, let's carry on with the business." He could tell that he earned some points and approval from the director with this statement as Ragnok nodded in a solemn manner before reaching aside to pick up a large sealed scroll as well as a sealed envelope with Harry's name on it. Setting the envelope down before Harry, the director examined the will's seal a moment before nodding his approval and tapping it with his ring.

 _"I Sirius Orion Black declare this my last will and testament, and revoke any other wills made in my name as falsified or outdated. I have delivered this will in person as witnessed by several high ranking Gringotts employees and the director himself, as well as being tested for any external influence such as charms and potions, making it a requirement for any alterations to my last will and testament to require this degree of scrutiny out of enlightened self-interest._

 _I degree that this will be read by the primary beneficiary before the actual, public will reading can take place, and thus already in effect by then and thus irrevocable and above any challenge I know a few ungrateful bastards out there would want to issue._

 _First off, as the Head of House Black I declare at the time I delivered this will in full health in body and mind that I find myself ashamed of what some daughters of the House of Black have become. Branded like animals by an upstart incompetent wizard like Voldemort, I declare that the House Lestrange has violated the House Black oath of Toujours Pur, always pure, by associating and serving an inbred son of a squib and muggle, and by making a daughter of the House of Black, Bellatrix, into one of his servants. I hereby declare the marriage contract between Bellatrix Black and the House Lestrange null and void, and demand the full return of the dowry paid to House Lestrange along with interest, as well as reinstatement of the debts owed to House Black which the previous Lady Walburga Black tried to annul by said marriage, even without the approval of the Head of Black. In addition, I declare Bellatrix Black an oathbreaker, and in violation to her oaths to House Black. I hereby demand the return of family magic from you and any of your spawn, and cast thee and thine spawn out of the Most Ancient and Noble House of Black, forever!_

 _Now onto you, Narcissa. I wanted to believe you were smarter than that. Marrying the slimy Lucius for his looks even though he was just the grandson of a French upstart who got kicked out of the Noble House he was part of for violating magical oaths, and earning the name Malfoy, bad faith, as a warning to all of the tainted nature of their blood and honor. As proven by his willful subservience to the same son of a squib and muggle, Voldemort. By thus shaming the house of Black, I hereby annul the marriage between Narcissa Black and the House of Malfoy, and demand the full return of the dowry and interest, as well as reinstate all debts owed by the house of Malfoy to the House of Black, despite what the former Lady Walburga Black may have intended by her unsanctioned attempt to annul said debts before without approval from the Head of House Black. Furthermore, Narcissa, I demand the return of family magic from you and your spawn, and cast thee and thine spawn out of the Most Ancient and Noble House of Black, forever!_

 _Lastly, we have the only sister worth honoring, Andromeda Tonks nee Black. I do not pretend to understand what went on in Walburga's insane head at the time she sought to cast thee out of our family, but as I have already revoked her previous declarations as they were never sanctioned in the first place, I hereby welcome you back to the Most Ancient and Noble House of Black along with your descendants, with the dowries of Narcissa no-name and Bellatrix no-name to be delivered, with interest, as a late wedding present to you._

 _Now, onto more personal matters then. Bellatrix or any that represent her, along with the family Malfoy are hereby instructed to leave the will reading now, as you have no place here anymore. Refuse, and I have requested your heads to be put on prominent display atop the spikes outside Gringotts._

 _First off, to Lady Amelia Bones of the Most Ancient and Noble House of Bones I leave a package in the Vault 359 which I swear on my magic is already sealed and awaiting for this will-reading to take place. What lies inside is the proof that I never received a trial, the proof that I was never the Potter secret keeper, and the proof that Peter Pettigrew is a traitor and still alive, or at least was at the time of this will making. You will find hand written parchments signed by blood quill and magic as authentic, along with a solicitor's pensieve and a stock of memories that should prove most enlightening and interesting. In addition I am leaving a sum of 140,000 galleons to the Department of Magical Law Enforcement on the condition that you, personally, are entrusted to use it as you see fit._

 _Next, to Nymphadora Tonks I leave a sum of 20,000 galleons and a request that you remember to stay loyal to the family. Love whom you want and be free to choose your own paths, but I hope you avoid being leashed in the service of a delusional mad-man like the already banished members of the family were._

 _Remus Lupin, you are the last of the original Marauders and I want to honor James memory as well in leaving you with the secure little house we used to plan out pranks in the summer between sixth and seventh year, the only Black Property that I had access to back then, left by Uncle Alphard who passed away during our sixth year. That House has been renovated since then, and fitted with a sturdy cellar that can be sealed for a set period of time from outside to help with your Furry Little Problem. I also leave you a sum of 25,000 galleons, and a request. Remember to protect the Legacy Marauder to the best of your abilities against all that would oppose him._

 _Molly and Ronald Weasley. I find it difficult to express how disgusted I am with the two of you. I opened up my House for Dumbledore's Order of the Phoenix in the hopes that it would help keep your family safe and hoping that I would also find a chance to spend some time with my godson Harry, and let him be a kid besides his friends. Instead I am treated like a freeloader in my own home, and what little time I get to see Harry you are shoving him to do chores by hand that would be done in half a minute by wand, and you have the gall to lecture me about being a bad godfather as well Molly._

 _As for your attempt to raid my library and remove books you thought dangerous, hate to say but all that you 'threw away' to be burned were replaced by conjurations before Kreacher stocked the real books in a safe room in the house that you could not even see. So for your aspiration to burn dark books was all for naught, for only the Head of Black can remove and destroy knowledge from the Black library for good. Even had your succeeded the library only hold those volumes of which there are copies, with truly irreplaceable books always kept in the Black Archive, and well beyond the reach of any non-family member._

 _Ronald, you spend more time trying to steal everyone's food at the dining table than you spend trying to improve yourself and learn, or do the chores assigned if you can slack off and claim credit for what Harry and Hermione managed to it was only that I could find it in myself to forgive you, but learning that you along with Ginny were all plotting to have Harry dosed with Amortentia keyed to Ginny and Hermione with Amortentia keyed to Ron to keep the two of them from getting together I am appalled to have let you under my roof._

 _Kreacher goes around unseen and he may hate me, but he is still loyal to the House of Black. I knew everything that went on in the house, and the only reason I didn't shout out loud is that our dear old Headmaster would have swiped it all under the rug. Jokes on you however, I have included my memories and evidence of these plans along with samples of the brew that Molly Weasley was preparing to the vault 359 that now belongs to Lady Amelia Bones. I leave both of you with thirty sickles each, you may ask the next person on this list about the meaning of that if you wish._

 _Hermione Granger, I am saddened to say you were Harry's best friend. Ronald was never more than a fair-weather friend and a thief, but you genuinely seemed to care for Harry, enough that the others would stand in your way. What you lack however is a good head on your shoulders to recognize that not all adults and authorities are worth trusting, and your claim that professor Dumbledore knows best is both well known and sadly misguided. I considered leaving you with most of my family library and a fair share of gold, but I fear the books would end in Albus' greedy hands far too soon, so I leave you a sum of 15,000 galleons in a vault at Gringotts, with your parents being entrusted with the key until your 19th birthday, upon which point I hope you have already distanced yourself from manipulative old men._

 _Albus Dumbledore, I have learned a great deal about you in the past years. You sealed the Potter will because it did not suit your plans. You did not help me even though you cast the Fidelius in the first place and BLOODY KNEW I was not the Potter secret keeper. You left Harry to be abused, you illegally assumed the position as his magical guardian, and you willfully ignored all the signs of abuse and neglect he was suffering in that house. You tested and tested Harry year after year, pushing him to danger and watching if he would survive or perish this time around. All of this while claiming to be working for some fabled 'Greater Good'. Grindewald said that his purge and the Nazi regime both served the Greater Good, it is heartening to see you recognize the company you associate yourself with most._

 _I leave you with a copy of the_ _ **Magics Most Dark of Nature**_ _, with a page already earmarked on the subject of Horcruxes. More specifically, on the fact that after their invention in the late Pharaonic era, there has never been a single documented case of a wizard or witch outlasting their natural life-span even with a Horcrux. They can prevent death by direct trauma, but each one created hastens the death of the wizard or witch by draining their remaining lifespan that much faster. This said drain is enough to prevent even things like a Philosopher's stone from preventing physical and mental decay along with magical diminishing, dooming the one using such magic to a shortened life-span though making them a candle that burns brightly but swiftly until its time is soon up._

 _You may be wondering what I know about them and how, but the answer to that is simple. You and Severus may be unlicensed, and capable Legilimencers, and possibly even moderate Occlumence, but neither of you were trained by the Head of the Most Ancient and Noble House. While I would not confront you directly I have drawn quite a few interesting memories from Snape's skull over the times you have let that greasy bastard into my home, and those memories incriminate him and you quite nicely. They too have joined the vials in the vault 359, marked with a tag to denote they are merely observed memories rather than my personal memories._

 _Mundungus Fletcher, you cowardly worm, you tried to steal from the House of Black, well I hope you enjoyed the drinks that bought. Kreacher has been under order to steal it all back, and a lot of your suppliers were left with a note in your script stating "no hard feelings, it was just business gov'na." I hope you have a good place to hide or enough saved up to make a run for it._

 _Lastly, to my Godson and designated Heir, Harry James Potter, I leave the full wealth and assets of the House of Black, along with a letter given to you in person during the private will reading given to you as the primary beneficiary. Take the letter, read it, and get moving. I have secured you the most fabulous tour through Amsterdam's seedier nightlife, in the red light district. I have further included a set of tickets to Monte Carlo to learn how to gamble with the best of them. Lastly, I have a set of open tickets for various different countries so that you can choose where you want to make your new home away from the doom and gloom of this stormy British mess. Maybe in ten years you can come back and see what's left, by then the snake-faced bastard will be worm-food already anyway._

 _In order to be able to pull all of this off, I have used my authority as your oath-sworn Godfather and your TRUE Magical Guardian (oh shove a sock in it Albus too many names, you were NEVER Harry's magical guardian and you know it!) I hereby declare you a capable and financially independent youth already, and your maturity is far greater than some of the so-called adults in this meeting. I emancipate you while I am still alive, and hope that upon my death you take the solid advice from me to get the hell out of here while you still can, cub._

 _Last and not least, as Harry Potter's magical guardian I hereby OFFICIALLY demand that the previously sealed Potter Will be opened and read, as it should have been after James and Lily's death, and as it definitely should have by the time Harry was eleven and first visited Gringotts._

 _Mischief Managed,_

 _Sirius Orion Black."_

Harry sat a little numb after hearing the contents of the will but swallowing quietly he reached up to rub his hand to his eye-corners, before starting to open the letter in his hands at the goblin director's gesture. Instead of tickets mentioned in the will however, he found a lone letter sitting inside and waiting for him, in Sirius' own hand-writing.

 _"Hey there Prongslet,_

 _If you are reading this, I am sorry for whatever happened and the fact I am no longer with you. I hope I went down with a heart-attack from too much sexual exertion in bed with a set of gorgeous big-breasted twins, but we don't always get what we want now do we?_

 _Listen, I wanted to toss Dumbledore and his merry group of blind followers a red herring or two to chase after, if you would find it within yourself to pay for Gringotts to get someone to polyjuice as you and spend some galleons in both Amsterdam and in Monte Carlo it would be a perfect addition to your late dog-father's last prank. I imagine Mooney might catch on, but if he's got any marauder loyalty left he won't say a word about it._

 _I am not sure of where Nymphadora, Remus and Hermione stand when it comes down to loyalties, all of them seem to have some degree of loyalty towards Dumbledore but all of them have also shown to care for you. You may not really remember much of Nymphadora, but she knew you when you were but a child and volunteered to try and help you when Albus reassembled his bloody order under my roof._

 _That said, I would not be surprised if Albus and Snivellus are using loyalty potions in the food served by Molly Weasley to the order in the meetings, along with Albus' favorite brand of cryptic advice and kindly old man persona laced with a few subtle compulsion charms._

 _Next, whatever Albus Bloody Dumbledore tries to make you think about destiny and prophecies, remember that they only have power if you believe in them. Albus and Voldemort certainly do and seem to be acting on it, but if you don't believe and stay out of their reach, things will be settled on their own eventually anyway as I already mentioned. For all we know the dumb snake-face might attack a muggle military face and die at the hand of a muggle soldier with a solid slug through the skull accelerating his removal from mortal coil._

 _I've found part of it in Snape's memories, and its total hogwash, the teacher that Albus was interviewing was a total fraud and probably faked the whole thing, and even if not the Ministry has been gathering prophecies for years to study them, noticing that out of a thousand prophecies maybe one or two ever come true, and even then you have to squint about the meaning to fit the cryptic message to actual events that took place._

 _I'd recommend you leave Britain, definitely going beyond Europe as ICW has only ever held influence in Europe. Americans and Australians both regard us Brits with quiet humor and some measure of pity. I found it hard to believe at first but after getting our hands on some books from abroad as Charles Potter, James's father and your grandfather by the way, was an avid reader believing in progress, we discovered things in them that are common place elsewhere but were practically traceless in Hogwarts making our hobby of pranking future death-eaters, death-eater recruiters and pompous, self-assured gits and bullies into behaving a lot easier._

 _Now with that said, I'd seriously advice you to head to the United States. Las Vegas is further off than Monte Carlo, but you really should get some practice gambling sometime._

 _What do you say, isn't it time for you to live a little, with the burdensome title claiming you have already done so while Albus Dumb-as-door has been doing his best to assure you did not get to live a life at all?_

 _Remember that I'll always love you and be proud of you, and we'll be waiting for you on the other side, but don't you dare come over until you are at least in centennial age, and hopefully with children and grand-children at that point._

 _Marauders Never Die, they just go to Afterlife to Regroup,_

 _Sirius Orion Black, Prankster Supreme and a proud Dog-Father."_

Smiling a little again as he wiped his eyes, Harry let out a long breath and finally chuckled along with a brief sniff. It was just like Sirius to start and finish with a joke. Starting his letter with one and requesting him to play along with one last joke on Dumbledore in the private letter definitely made him feel this would be a perfect way to honor the old man. He might even visit Las Vegas eventually, though he wasn't sure if he should even consider it until he was a little older though.

"Sir, did my godfather leave any instructions behind to hire a willing person as a distraction, armed with polyjuice and some galleons to lead Dumbledore's order on a merry chase through the places mentioned in the actual will?" He smiled a bit on noticing the smirk on the director's face followed with a nod.

"Indeed, he requested a sum of 10,000 galleons be set aside for this purpose but mentioned that you could add more if you wanted to make it more extravagant and indecent to freak out the rest of the traitors, such as Madam Weasley. We have a willing candidate who would be willing to carry out the ruse at the price of 500 galleons monthly salary in addition to whatever sum he is given in hand to spend in Amsterdam's red light district and the Monte Carlo. He is also more than happy to follow any guidelines, such as to tip generously, avoid certain acts, and whether or not to try to avoid too much publicity or outright pursue public notice." The director stated this calmly, before pausing and looking at him.

"Given that you should be able to prove that you are actually in the States the entire time any such false trail can be swept under the rug easily enough, especially if at the end of the journey the individually publically allows the polyjuice potion to run out and return to normal, leaving the public aware those acts were being carried out by a double rather than the original one." His words earned a nod from Harry who rather liked the plan, finding it hilarious to think the order members trying to hunt 'him down through such crowd.

"Add another ten thousand galleons to the sum, and hire him for two months. I should do at least that much for Sirius. Oh and instruct him to tip generously and not act like a total prick at least, even if he can go wild freely." He smiled in a warm manner before allowing a faint sigh t o escape his lips at the time.

"Can you start calling in the debts, selling the assets, and transferring the monetary wealth to the United States now? I would like to acquire sanctuary there, after all. Oh, and I have fought Tom Riddle... Voldemort several times by now, and heard something mentioned before about the right of conquest, could I use that to rob him of at least part of his assets?" Harry suddenly thought to mention, earning a raised brow from the goblin director.

"I would need to see these events as pensieve memories but it should be possible to do so, if there has been at least three clear defeats and more would only stand to make it more secure claim. Though I should mention that Voldemort's assets include by oath a tenth of each follower's total assets, so it could potentially take a while." The outright evil smirk on his face however made Harry rather certain the director was on board with the idea, and looking forward to it if it was doable.

 **= End of Chapter 2 =**

A/N: Now I figure there might be one or two people out there that think I spend way too much time establishing things and setting things up. I could have summarized this and just started the story in Vegas, having Harry give a few outlines of what happened before in flashback or something. Yes, I could definitely have done that.

However, I recall it said before to "show, don't tell" where possible, and I am trying to follow this bit of instruction now and then. Of course the starting set up will take a bit more time than some events to come in the future, but I do plan to do a mix of both showing things at certain points, and at other times keeping it shorter and just telling what took place, especially if its weight on the story further is going to be minimal.

Now it seems Sirius is using a fair bit of references a bit difficult for someone from a pureblood wizard background to be familiar with, but I like to point out they had one rather brilliant and scary witch in the form of Lily Evans to introduce them to things, and I imagine Sirius took a liking to a number of things that sounded suitably impressive to him. It is probably also safe to say other than the few quotes he liked and some small bits here and there, he did not know the full extent of all that was mentioned.

Nevertheless, I am moving along with this story. I hope the next chapter will be the last one of the 'setting up' stage of Harry still in Britain, and at 4th or 5th chapter we should have the Will-reading (I won't repeat the will already read, but I will write on the reactions and what not), and the start of Harry's stay in the States.

I am not mentioning exact sums for Potter or Black fortune yet either, as I figure they would just be another little detail that changes form as the story goes and its suffice to say he is very wealthy, rich, but likely to be even wealthier in a while still.

Now while I plan on writing an adaptation of the Vegas Wedding challenge from this, eventually, I am not yet fully certain what the pairing(s) will be in this story when it comes to that. A few options do come in mind, but I am also considering the option of a coven forming eventually around Harry, as well as the option of him being married but also working closely with characters from the DC-verse further along.

I am not against the harem options but they seem a bit difficult to try and justify, especially when it comes to why the women in question would be alright with it, and not take it out on their husband. That said, Harry's luck being what it is, we'll see eventually. I would prefer that if it comes to that and Harry does end up with a coven around him that he would at least have to work at it to keep everyone content or happy.

I am inclined to consider Harry and Raven as the primary pairing for the time being though, with Raven being her sarcastic, emotionally restrained "kuudere" self. Given that I would prefer to let things be until the characters are physically eighteen however (I believe both of them had to grow up faster than most people, and are mentally a lot more mature than physically) before even entertaining the thought of starting to write certain events.

Another note, I am not against writing lemon/lime material, but given how things are on fan-fiction, I will likely leave it out of the chapters posted here, drawing the curtain and fading to black or switching to another location and focusing on another character or group at the time. I may well write the actual scenes, but set them aside to only publish them at some point elsewhere if there was an actual desire from others reading the tale for such, but in all honesty I expect them to be more or less extraneous material anyhow to the other parts of the tale.

Lastly, my note on the horcruxes? I don't think having your very soul, your life-essence torn into shards is going to be very good for your long-term survival. This story will reflect that, with Voldemort's time already rather limited and draining away by itself. Given he's also been killed physically, banished from possession, banished again from Harry's head in attempted possession, had his first and earliest Horcrux (the one likely to have housed the most of his soul/life-essence to begin with) destroyed, and being stuffed into a poorly made, inhuman homunculus body to even physically exist for the time being, I don't really see the soul/life-essence being able to support him much longer.

I'd wager there was a good reason people before didn't make more than one Horcrux, or at most three if they were that paranoid. Given how insane and inhumane Voldemort had got at that point I think he's torn his soul a few times too many, and indeed starting to burn out quickly.

Then again, I am not the original author of Harry Potter, because if I was then Draco Malfoy would have died before the end of the 6th book, Hermione would not have done a 180 and start treating Harry poorly while being jealous of Ron's girlfriend, and Snape would have been fed to Dementors for murdering Dumbledore after being already crippled by a wall of spells from the Defense Association (never Dumbledore's Army).

I'll try and have Chapter 3 up soon, still got some planning to do for Chapters 4 & 5 on details.


	3. Chapter 3

**Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter. I don't make any profit from this story. This is fan-fiction.**

 **= Chapter 3 =**

Waking up with a loud groan and a pounding headache, Harry Potter found himself shirtless and laying on a firm mattress in a room with a white ceiling, and the smell of potions in the air. As he was raising a hand up towards his forehead a firm grip on his wrist halted him, making him blink and turn his head slightly at the side to take a look at the person who grabbed him.

"I am glad to see you are feeling better and finally awake again, but I wanted to stop you from aggravating your wound. Tell me Mr. Potter, what is the last thing you remember?" A goblin matron spoke in a serious tone of voice, dressed in a grey robe and wearing several rings in her black hair, she was watching him closely in what appeared to be a hospital wards with white stone walls and ceiling.

"I remember that the healers found something odd during the check-up, and it seemed to attack me. My head was aching before those present began to chant. The pain grew worse but then better, as whatever it was began to lose strength. I felt like the room was spinning, and then I was here." Harry spoke a bit uncertainly, wondering what was wrong to have caused such a reaction.

"Well Mr. Potter, I am pleased to say the magical bindings on your core as well as those placed upon your abilities have been fully removed, but during the procedure we also discovered that apparently there was a lingering remnant of a soul-leech on you. It must have been created the same time as your scar, but made worse by your close proximity to its creator later on, given there was indication of a recent charge added to it. However, when it revealed itself during the examination and tried to take over your body it was already doomed to failure, your protections would have killed it soon given its weakness. Yet it could have done you some harm before dying, so we aided you in exorcising it from your person. Although its removal had an unintended side-effect." She gestured at the nearby table against the wall at the side of his bed, before reaching to pick up a small tray and bring it before him.

Laying there on a bit of white cloth now stained with some blood and black ooze was the very familiar lightning bolt scar, now broken in two. Smiling slightly the goblin woman then nod her head and chuckled before setting the tray aside and showing him a pocket mirror, revealing a second white bandage on his forehead, over the spot the scar used to be. His glasses were also nowhere in sight but his vision was as good as ever, or better than it had been with those cheap old glasses actually.

"Your curse scar is gone, and the skin will be tender there for a while but it is recovering quickly. A few potions and salves aided to seal the wound for most part, but the freshly formed skin is pale white and tender, so its covered for the time being and your touch might have aggravated it. Leave the bandage on for the rest of the day though and you should have no remnants of the scar by this time tomorrow. As for your vision, it seems it was part of those abilities that were being kept suppressed. You had your mother's eyes and she never needed any glasses, unlike your father, so that was a clue in itself that there was something shady there." She chuckled briefly and hummed.

"Your Senior Account Manager dropped in to leave the message that the transfer is well under way, with the sums mentioned in the two wills set aside to wait for their recipients when the wills are read. The assets are being sold over the course of the next few days, and the debts are being called in already. The approval for the portkey and sanctuary has been granted, and once you are ready to leave the Director will hand you the necessary papers along with the portkey." She hummed briefly before allowing a long breath to leave her lips.

"I must say I am most annoyed with the Hogwarts healer however, you are suffering from malnutrition and obvious signs of abuse and she should have known better based on just the bones that never healed right. We took the time to try and fix what we could while you were knocked out cold, but I am afraid you will have to be taking nutrient potions for the next six weeks along with the corrective potion, once a day, to help you grow up to your expected full height and to gain a more healthy body." She paused briefly at seeing his expression, and shook her head.

"None of that, you will take these potions without complaint, they are not as bad tasting as we often hear our Warding specialists comment after first visiting our care. I believe the reason is in the ingredients, Hogwarts uses what is grown by their herbology class, and the quality and taste varies a great deal because of that, not to mention they skip a few things that help make a potion more palatable anyhow. Part of the entire attempt to subtly discourage people from having to end up in the hospital wing in the first place." She snorted at the thought and sighed wearily.

"Nevertheless, I will add your potions to your new trunk shortly." She noted this in a tone that sounded final, but Harry had to focus for a moment to think back. He had requested a few clothes that actually fit him, and inquired about getting his trunk charmed to be weightless and shrinking it, mentioning the multi-compartment trunk that Moody had used in the past as well while he was at it and inquiring on the costs.

It had resulted in a few quick orders along the Diagon Alley, and he had gained a new three-compartment trunk with enough space for his old school things, his new clothes, and a bit of room for what else he might need, which by now included a number of potions apparently. Shrinking or growing at the tap of his wand and _his_ magic in particular, it was a nice, far more secure trunk compared to his old one. The clothes he had requested were simple muggle choice of clothing their muggle-born ward-breaker had been paid to purchase with Harry's measurements in mind, to help him settle in the United States a bit easier. The small number in turn was because if the potions did what they were meant to do, he'd need a whole new wardrobe soon enough anyway.

He had considered going on a big shopping spree with his new financial freedom, but had decided against it after remembering the amount of censorship and bigotry so rampant in the magical society in UK, leaving Harry to decide to acquire his books abroad, with a bit more selective look at the materials they had at hand there.

As for clothes, Harry had no idea what the wizards and witches in the States liked to wear, so he'd check on that in due time. For the meanwhile a few sets of muggle clothes would probably be the best camouflage. He considered the issue about his wand being a brother wand to Voldemort's choice in wands, and quietly wondered if he could find a better one in the States that did not share that unfortunate condition.

"Nevertheless, now that you are awake again you should get going, there's still work to be done before it is time for you to be off young wizard. I will have the potions delivered to your trunk in the meanwhile, and add the fee to the final bill, Mr. Potter." Nodding her head slightly the goblin healer moved away while Harry slowly got up, feeling a bit shaky on his feet still.

After he had read through Sirius' letter and come up with the question of the right of conquest the Director Ragnok had been rather curious on his memories. A few more questions sparked by things seen had Harry practically making a copy of all of his memories in the last few years that had seemed suspect, resulting in a very grim expression on the Director's face as he heard the summary of what they contained.

Ragnok had left him with the senior account manager Skulltaker at that point to go over the exact amount of wealth and assets left to him, gathering a few others to review Harry's memories in those moments. In the meanwhile, Harry had the chance to view through his parents will and feel the sorrow hitting him again as he went through its contents. It also made him feel hatred inside that was strong enough that if Albus Dumbledore had made the mistake of barging in on that moment to demand Harry be returned to Privet Drive immediately he would have made Bellatrix green with envy with the sheer power of his cruciatus curse in those moments. Thankfully that mood began to dissipate with the later contents of the letter.

He decided to not act on it right away, leaving it to wait until the will reading for Sirius Black took place, to unveil the Potter will after that one with invitations having been sent for the next session right after Sirius' will, some of them only handed over in the Black will reading's end giving the few people from there a very short time to move over to the other chamber for the next will reading and thus preventing Albus Dumbledore from being able to try and stop the second will reading from taking place as well.

As he was leaving the hospital wing he found himself greeted by a short, and rather plainly dressed goblin youth, a runner as they apparently called them. "Mr. Potter, your account manager was hoping to have a work with you in his office, Director Ragnok has been waiting for you to recover as well. Please come along."

Harry silently followed the goblin lad to the waiting office, and he had only had time to step in to take a seat at the table when there was a new knock, and a moment later the Director stepped in, his two guards left behind at the doorway once more as he strode forth as well, a smirk playing on his lips as he nodded his head to both Skulltaker and Harry.

"Mr. Potter, I am pleased to say that your actions over the years have definitely shown more than sufficient claim to enact right by conquest. I am there-by giving you permission to draw your wand inside the bank in this instance to invoke the necessary oath to the magic itself to judge your claim's worth. I have the necessary oath here for your perusal, but once you have invoked it the parchment should either burn to ashes if your claim is revoked for whatever reason, or gain a golden lining around it as well as reinforcements until such a time that the claim has been confirmed and enacted." He had a predatory grin on his face as he said this.

"I imagine the said families will already be feeling the sting of so many debts being called in, both from Potter and Black families, and scrambling to try and gather enough gold to arrange delays for the debt payments in order to hide their gold and assets that are still left, or to even assassinate the one behind them to silence the matter. Having a tenth of their assets, as estimated at the time they swore their fealty to their Lord whom you are directing the right of conquest against, well, I would not be surprised if a few families would end up entirely ruined, without a knut in their name and all of their assets gone. Given you don't want to keep anything in Britain, I'd wager there will be many a smug French and German wizards and witches owning a share in British businesses soon."

Harry chose to simply nod at this assessment of the situation, and took up the offered parchment to look it through. It was a rather straight forward oath, and stated his claim for the right of conquest, and all he had to lose was the parchment on which the claim was being made, but he stood to gain a great deal if the claim was validated, as the director appeared rather certain it would, given his expression.

"I, Harry James Potter, Son of James Charles Potter and Lily Potter nee Evans, here-by invoke the Right of Conquest on Tom Marvolo Riddle and his followers, upon the grounds of having repeatedly vanquished him in personal combat, having by might and magic struck him down, and establishing a right previously left unclaimed. With the evidence of banishing him when I was but a year old, of breaking his possession of late Professor Quirrell while of eleven years of age, and having slain his soul-shard after killing his Basilisk Pet in the Chamber of his ancestors while twelve, I have thrice defied him and thrice conquered him. Beyond these I have duelled him to a draw while fourteen years of age, and finally fought him in my mindscape and banished his possessing spirit from my very being while fifteen. The five fights I've fought and lived, the four that I clearly won, I render my claim to be judged, and await the ruling of old laws."

He had barely finished speaking those words when the parchment sparked a flash that nearly blinded them all, and Harry momentarily thought Voldemort had some protection in place to prevent such claims or his victories were deemed insufficient, for he thought the flash was the parchment burning to ashes. Instead, he was greeted by a gold-gilded parchment laying there, verifying his claim.

"Marvelous showing." Director Ragnok smirked and nodded in approval, while Skulltaker grinned and let out a short, gruff laugh. "You certainly keep adding work to my already busy schedule Mr. Potter."

"That was bloody brilliant," Harry stated with a grin while hastily putting his wand away again and bowing his head to the director. He had considered the situation some while resting, and thinking back at all the help he had already received, and come to a decision in the meanwhile.

"Director Ragnok, would you be willing to accept on behalf of Gringotts London a quarter of any assets claimed by this oath as my gift of gratitude to the goblin nation and Gringotts worldwide? I honestly believe that without Gringotts' direct involvement none of this would have come to pass, and indeed my godfather's will would have been suppressed, and I would have likely seen my godfather's fortune lost to the hands of Malfoy and Lestrange families, and through them to Voldemort's hands." He kept his head a bit low while speaking, and waited quietly for a moment for any answer.

"Mr. Potter. This situation was highly unusual to begin with, and Gringotts does not take thefts from its clients lightly, with the evidence your godfather was able to present it was already obvious something had to be done, and the new discoveries since then have certainly proven that it was prudent to act quickly. While we are charging a fee for services rendered, we act on the principles of Trust, Honor, and Profit. What you offer now is far in excess of what fees we might levy against your accounts for the work generated by these revelations." The director seemed a touch reluctant to accept right away, and yet he did not claim it in an absolute manner, leaving Harry to push on.

"I insist, I owe Gringotts for all the help that has been offered to me and the aid I have already received. I would have been perfectly happy with my parents and godfather's belongings, simply because of whom they belonged to, as well as the money to start a new life with. Having a chance to hurt the death-eaters, and the sheep who refused to listen, they are just added boons. If Voldemort and his gang of sadistic bullies are poorer than a church mouse they will find it a lot harder to get away with things they used to bribe their way out of before. So I am perfectly happy to share a fair amount of it with Gringotts for the aid and services rendered. Please, Director, I believe that my honor calls for me to recognize what has been done on my behalf and give accordingly." He held a serious face as he looked up, and saw a more formal, and serious expression on both the Director's and the senior account manager's faces.

"If that is your wish, Mr. Potter, then I will gladly accept, although I will add a note on your file that your accounts have had all their future fees reduced for the next decade in recognition to your generosity. Likewise, the bill for services rendered will be taken from the said gift, rather than removing further from your accounts." The director nodded his head slightly, before smiling faintly again.

"With that being said, your travel arrangements have been made, I have a portkey to the United States ready, you will pass through magical customs and have to answer their questions, but they are aware you are coming, and that you are seeking sanctuary. Given the past events, the Department of Magical Affairs is well informed of what has been going on and they have butted heads with the ICW edicts often enough that you should have no trouble with them since they already see you as a smart young man doing the smart thing and leaving the ICW-encroached territory behind. I also have a sum of galleons in a feather-light pouch for any immediate expenses there for the next 2 days. By then, the majority of your monetary wealth has been moved. In a week, all your assets here will have been sold, and the books and other family objects stored and shipped over as well. The debts may take a month or two all things considered, and as for the amount gained through the right of conquest, I would say a week or two to push them through."

Ragnok smirked slightly while presenting him with a large coin-pouch and what seemed like an airplane ticket of a sort, though different. It had his name, his point of origin and his destination, as well as a set of three codes to follow before a short green stamp with the 'Department of Magical Affairs' marked after it. This was in addition to a small stack of papers he then took up from the nearby table to present to him as well.

"They like to make their portkeys also serve as identification to new arrivals. They will run you through customs there, the codes will give them the necessary information they may desire. They use a mixture of technology and magic alike to confirm you are who you say you are, with certain charms to detect polyjuice or metamorphs, as well as a few spells that confirm you are not under the influence of any mind-altering potions or spells. They tend to be rather thorough, but the green stamp should let you pass through with minimal discomfort. That doesn't mean there won't be any discomfort involved though." Ragnok winced.

"If you were an active employee of the bank, we could let you travel by our own internal portkeys but certain treaties ban this from anyone but employees as we are not directly responsible for our clients conduct in the country they arrive in unless they are our employees. This was the closest we could get, the green stamp is to show that you are expected, and welcomed guest, so their investigation will be accelerated. They do tend to be a bit ... excessive, for some people's tastes, but they do have a rather impressive track record of stopping ICW-region smugglers. As for these papers, they may ask a fair share of questions but handing over these should shorten the procedure a great deal, especially as they've got the Gringotts seal on them, they are considered already verified" He smirked slightly again, but shrugged.

"Thank you, I can handle a bit of discomfort if it means I get out of Britain a little faster in exchange." Harry smiled the goblins in a grateful fashion, holding the coin pouch, papers and the portkey in his hands as he then cast a look at Ragnok a bit thoughtfully. "So ah, is this set to go off at a certain time or is there some passphrase written down somewhere to activate it?" He figured it was unlikely the goblin director was going to speak it out loud and activate it without warning after all of this.

"A passphrase as well as a time limitation. It can be used in half an hour from now at earliest, and twelve hours after that it will become invalid and burn itself to ashes. That is all part of the security they use. The passphrase in question is stating the name mentioned in the ticket, followed immediately by stating 'to New York City'. That is where their east-coast portkey terminal is located." There was a faint smirk playing on Ragnok's face.

"Mr. Potter, I don't deal with many wizards in person but I will admit it has been a pleasant exception. Your account's value and the activity going on warranted my personal attention but I am happy to note that you have taken up the best traits of your mother. The tellers at the bank at the time did report her to be a person to go straight to business but also remaining respectful through the encounter. We are warriors and don't like false flattery, but a mutual respect goes a long way. Now, however, I must return to my other duties. Take care Mr. Potter, and may Fortuna favor you in the States." With that said, the goblin man headed out leaving Harry alone with Skulltaker who seemed to be smiling as well.

"Well, Mr. Potter, I am glad to say that having the Director personally take interest in your situation has helped solve a number of things. Gringotts may aid some customers to get in touch with the right authorities instead of the ministry in exchange for a sizable fee, but helping a wizard or witch to this extent is only done at the Director's own discretion. Your godfather and your mother had both made an impression on the Director, as had your father to a slightly smaller extent. I am merely saying this so you understand that not everyone will have access to these services." He hummed after stating this before setting down a pair of folders before Harry.

"Now on the last few matters to be taken care of. Your mother's muggle-side investments include purchasing the number four Privet Drive, who allowed her sister and her family to live there at minimal rent. The property has not paid any rent since your parents death, with your supposed magical guardian Albus Dumbledore announced you were staying there as well. Likewise, your mother convinced your father to invest some of Potter funds in muggle-side companies such as Grunnings, which I believe your uncle has been working for. There is also the matter that the money paid to them for your care has been spent on everything else but you, but has not shown in their tax papers. Not only this, but a bit of checking revealed there has been some _creative_ book-keeping at Grunnings expense accounts. I believe you can see where I am going with this." Skulltaker offered a smirk that Harry found himself sharing.

"All those years they called me a freeloading parasite and a freak while they were stealing from me and living in a place that belonged to my parents and then me? Unbelievable, those bloody bastards did not have even a lick of sense. If they had treated me at least decently I would have been fine just leaving them with the house while I am leaving Britain, and content myself to just selling Grunnings shares, but now..." Harry let out a heavy breath and frowned.

"Can you arrange them to be exposed at the same time as Sirius' will reading takes place? I really do not want Dumbledore to rush in to interrupt and try to stop things. I would appreciate it if this was handled in the muggle-side, getting them caught for tax evasion for stealing from my... trust fund... and also stealing from my uncle's place of business, should help convince the neighborhood of what kind of people they've been listening to for all these years. Of course having a couple of witches or wizards present to prevent any of Dumbledore's yes-men from interfering would be a welcome addition." He let out a long breath before rubbing his forehead, having gone this long before he realized that he was seeing things clearly and he was no longer wearing any glasses either.

It surprised him despite the fact that he had seen it in the mirror earlier, but his attention had been on the fact his scar was gone back then. The realization that his looks would definitely be altered before long helped him ease into the idea of leaving this life behind. Any extra height, not having to wear second-hand clothes, and no longer needing glasses or having a scar would all together help make a new man out of him.

That thought made way for a painful wince and a flash of pain through his skull as he lowered his hand, having briefly touched on the spot the curse scar had been, brushing over the bandage and finding out the spot was very, very tender and sensitive at the moment. Definitely not something he would be doing again anytime soon.

"That can be arranged, Mr. Potter. We have contacts at Barclays and can send a couple of our bank's security wizards along, I doubt that goblins would be able to fit in at a muggle neighborhood after all. Besides, they would be far more prone to beheading the disrespectful thieves than simply driving off any attempt to influence the arrest by other magical folk." Skulltaker smirked while humming out loudly.

"While the sum removed from your vaults had been reclaimed from Dumbledore's vaults as he was the one responsible, would you wish to try and reclaim any of the lost rent or money paid to them ? It is unlikely you would see a full sum and it might take some serious work to get any of it back, maybe years in court, but it would help drive their image through the mud if that is your intent." Skulltaker continued at a relaxed pace once he saw Harry was paying attention again.

"I don't want to waste that much time on them. I don't like the idea of them stealing from me but releasing the information to police, the government and the tax officials in particular, and the piece about creative book-keeping to Grunnings board of directors should be sufficient. I don't want anything to do with Grunnings after this, even though they have some international business I don't want a reminder of what my uncle was up to while I am starting a new life." He let out a short breath while Skulltaker seemed thoughtful.

"And if Gringotts were to offer to go after them with a solicitor hired to bleed them dry for fraud and theft from the trust account, through Barclay as an intermediary? We would asses any funds gained as fees and penalties for participating in theft and fraud, as well as kidnapping and illegal incarceration though those would be unofficial part, and we would be able to handle this without your presence. The thing is, we would need your approval as it is your accounts that were abused before, and going after the Dursleys in this manner would take a lot longer since it would have to be handled through the muggle side?"

"Sir, if you can make them regret even a moment of how they treated me in their care then I would approve it even if you had to ruin them so they would be on the street and begging for scraps at the end. They taught Dudley hate from early on, and he's been trying to bully everyone around him since he got away with anything that he did to me back at home. I doubt it would be hard to discover more than a few incidents where I was wrongfully accused of something that Dudley did, even when I was at Hogwarts at the time. Maybe an open, public humiliation in the papers too would drive home the point."

"I would be most delighted to help bring ruin down upon their family, Mr. Potter. Being able to make a profit out of it is secondary, it comes down to Trust and Honor. They have no honor and have abused the trust shown to them, that kind of behavior would carry severe penalties in a goblin society. Now I believe with that matter settled, we have most preparations done. If there's anything else I can do for you please let me know, if not, then you should make your way to the Meeting Room 3, where your new trunk and belongings will be waiting for you."

"Thank you, I am very grateful for all that Gringotts has done." Harry smiled while heading out, being quickly met by another runner who moved to escort him to the said meeting room in question. Stepping in he was met by the sight of a large trunk with the trio of locks upon it, keyed to him alone, as well as the charms awaiting to be used. Placing the papers and the money pouch he had with him inside so he wouldn't accidentally lose them during the international portkey trip, Harry then shrank the closed trunk and placed it into his pocket. Drawing a deep breath and grasping the portkey, he wondered if long enough had already passed. Well, worst that could happen would be it wouldn't work and he'd look a little foolish.

"Harry James Potter to New York City."

As soon as those words had left his lips, he could feel the familiar hook behind his navel and being yanked away, from indoors, vanishing to the twirling and swirling pathway in the sky, immaterial and little more than turbulence for any planes that might run in his path, he was off across the Atlantic, all the while trying to keep from losing his last meal before the flight in the shaking he was undergoing.

 _"I really hope this won't last as long as an airplane ride across this distance would!"_ He quietly tried to hold down his discomfort but found the spinning he was undergoing a sensation he would not want to do too often. International portkeys were _definitely_ on the list of things he would avoid using regularly. It was only now when he was already underway that he realized he'd forgotten just how unlucky he tended to be with all forms of magical travel other than broom riding. _"Maybe I really should have bought myself a plane ticket and travelled the non-magical way."_ Feeling a little green on the face with his stomach trying to crawl up, Harry tried to comfort himself that despite the unpleasant journey, it was a journey that would put a fair share of distance between him and his would-be-trackers.

 **= End of Chapter 3 =**

A/N: Alright, while I like to go into some details now and then, I will openly admit that sometimes it is best to move ahead to not make the story stall by going through every little thing that would be meaningless a moment afterwards. That being said, I also chose to skip ahead in this case because I wanted to keep the part about James & Lily's will for the chapter about will-reading and reactions.

By this point Harry has the necessary paperwork to emancipate himself, it has been approved by Gringotts and marked as such, and pre-approved by the States he's travelling to. It'll be pushed upon the ministry soon enough, and with the reasons listed in the first chapter already, they don't really have a legal leg to stand on to try and reject the emancipation, not that it really matters as Gringotts had the authority on finances that they secured in the goblin rebellions, so Wizengamot has little it can do there. Added to that the amount of trouble unleashed upon them, and they'll be up to their neck in issues even without trying to contest an emancipation that is, indeed, a fait accompli.

That having been said I'll see what I'll add next, whether it will be the will reading and the reactions there, or if it will be the beginning of Harry's new life in the states that gets posted in Chapter 4. I am writing both sides in separate files, labeled Chapter X for the time being as I am considering which of them to put up on the net first, given they are happening simultaneously anyhow. I will likely just end up posting the one I get finished earlier though.

That being said, I hope that whoever chooses to read this tale this far has been enjoying the ride, and I intend to keep writing and doing it for the practice just as much as the amusement.

Once the initial 5 chapters are done, I plan to write a few more chapters of the next 2 years, both on British side dealing with having lost Harry, and on the States side on how Harry's getting settled to his new life. Still, at latest I plan to initiate the Las Vegas arc by chapter 12, though I imagine I might well be starting it off by chapter 10 if it comes to that. Heck, if I find the content for those intervening years is of little consequence I might summarize them down to 1 year in 1 chapter, though I think that would be packing it in the category of 'telling rather than showing' a bit too tightly.

On the matter of Vegas arc, I am still open to suggestions when it comes to the pairing / harem (coven?) that unfolds, though if someone has a suggestion I'd prefer they could give a good reasoning behind their suggestion. I am not promising to write this tale out as others want but as I like to write, but that doesn't mean I cannot be persuaded and as said a lot of things are left fairly open at the present time. The challenge itself was pretty open, and I have read several good starts... that unfortunately never went any further than the start. Still, I am leaning rather strongly towards Harry / Raven pairing, though I am not set and bound to it.

That said, I am also looking forward to writing out what encounters and experiences Harry may get involved in during the 2 year period, with his Potter luck it is highly unlikely he'll manage to avoid every little thing that happens in the States given the high-level conflicts between the heroes and villains.

On a last side note: 3 chapters, in 3 days. Hope that inspires some creativity in others to pick up the keyboard and start tapping a tale of their own too.


	4. Chapter 4

**Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter. I don't make any profit from this story. This is fan-fiction.**

 **= Chapter 4 =**

Albus Dumbledore had flooed to Privet Drive as soon as the little gadgets on his shelf began blaring as Harry left the wards covering the area far too early for his liking. Frowning in distaste, he had wanted to phoenix flame there but for some reason Fawkes was being temperamental again. While Fawkes did not seem to mind taking an occasional letter from him to certain people, the ruddy bird seemed intent to make him find alternative means of travelling unless it was an emergency.

Given that Fawkes had chosen not to appear despite his call this time around, it seemed the bird did not rate Harry Potter's wandering as a suitably big emergency. It was troubling, but Albus knew there was a limit of what he could expect. Hogwarts, and through it, Fawkes were not always supportive of his plans though he did try and carry on with them for the greater good. Fawkes still stayed at his side most of the time at least, letting him keep his image as the leader of the light, but some days it seemed the phoenix was laughing at him when his back was turned and something fell apart yet again.

Having made his way through the house of his loyal squib follower, Mrs. Figg, Albus Dumbledore had strode over to the house with a frown on his face. His letter had been carefully worded to instill the boy to stay, along with a small compulsion charm in it to make Harry listen to him. It was imperative that Harry stayed with the Dursleys, otherwise the shield protecting the Dursleys during Harry's absence might fail and he did not want that to happen. The wards keyed to Harry's own magic and blood helped immensely in making certain that nobody could just uproot them from the house he wanted them to stay at. The wards fuelled suspicion and hate towards Harry, and misdirecting a number of social workers and police officers that had wanted to talk about Dudley's growing criminal record, as well as suspicions of abuse towards Harry.

No, Harry had to return, it was getting frustrating that the older the boy was the longer it seemed to take each year to charge the wards to a proper state. Harry had began to grow closer to that blasted girl, Granger, and that made him less of a broken down doll and thus he was unconsciously resisting the drain of his magic to fuel the wards meant to keep him in place. Of course he had hidden them behind 'protective' wards which would stand out so that some people, like Moody, would not get suspicious.

Not that those wards would really help Harry, no, they were keyed to protect his family members, after all. Harry's own protections were all internal and due to whatever trickery that Lily Potter nee Evans had pulled off. Albus Dumbledore had wanted it for himself but despite countless hours of trying to figure out how she had set the protection on Harry he had come up with zilch, nada, nothing. The answer was probably in the Potter vaults, but even with his magical guardian status recognized by Wizengamot the goblins barred him any and all access to them. Blasted things, but he had to deal with them so he kept his temper.

Reaching the yard he noticed the unpleasant odor of Mundungus Fletcher sleeping off another long night and following morning at a bar, 'looking for information and rumors', completely neglecting his duty. Albus could only sigh wearily as he shook his head and wondered why he didn't have any competent help. Raising his wand quietly and starting to trace a few spells into the air, he tried to pick up trace of any accidental apparition, of any summoning of the Knight Bus, or the possibility of a portkey. All of them came as naught.

Albus was frowning as that meant one of three different things. Either Harry had left by himself on foot, which seemed unlikely to him but with Dung asleep and not paying attention, it was possible, or he might have received a goblin made portkey which unfortunately didn't give off the same kind of signal as the ministry-approved portus spell did. The third and most chilling possibility was that there was more magic that Albus Dumbledore did not know, and with the boy's weird luck it was a possibility. Merlin help him, Albus was at his wit's end how to deal with the weirdness magnet ability that the Potter boy had.

Waking up Dung and learning he had seen nothing and heard nothing did not help his mood, so he had hurried to check the boy's room, finding his relatives missing. Their car was gone, so Albus briefly entertained hope they had gone off as a family to some event elsewhere, and that Harry was with them although he was not at home.

He delayed summoning his Order up until he knew, but to his frustration the Dursleys arrived late in the evening, tipsy and boisterous, with Petunia giggling and snuggling against Vernon's bulky side in a drunken fashion with Dudley himself having a rather ruddy red nose to him and a shaky step. Albus was even more frustrated to learn they'd spent most of the day celebrating Vernon's latest deal and had taken Dudley along because he was already becoming a man and needed to taste the luxury that being a successful businessman could bring. That meant thick stakes and expensive wine, in Vernon's opinion and on Vernon's expense account, something he'd write off as 'part of sealing the deal'.

The following two days of searching had proven fruitless, and caused Albus worry to skyrocket. When he had returned to Hogwarts late in the night he had not visited his office but made his way right to his quarters. In the morning he'd found all his tracking and monitoring devices keyed to Harry Potter to be molten slag, broken into several pieces, or scorched to ashes. The boy's blood had evaporated, even the spare vials he'd stolen from the hospital ward. Worse, by the state of the broken instruments the blood wards too had come tumbling down at that point. It was an unmitigated disaster.

The only silver lining to that day had been the Goblins had finally agreed to proceed with the will reading, announcing the public will reading would take place in three days time. Albus had worried slightly that Harry had managed to have his private will-reading despite his instructions, but learned quickly from William Weasley after a little inquiry that there had not been any signs of Harry at the bank in the past week at least. William was sure of it, so Albus had let that worry settle down for the moment. Of course, he might have thought differently had he known William Weasley's attention was mainly focused on an attractive young Veela working at the bank than monitoring the lobby and offices as Albus had intended him to.

Severus was missing as well which frustrated him. He needed the man back at Hogwarts, and he wanted to confirm that Harry had not managed to end up captured by Voldemort either. Unfortunately the sour man was missing on some task by the Dark Lord that he had been unable to comment on beyond a short Patronus message that 'Potter hurt him worse than we thought at the Ministry', which was saying something. Severus didn't praise Potter if he could avoid it, and Voldemort did not reveal weaknesses, so something serious must have taken place. On that note, it was probably good that Severus was gone actually, he needed to find out what was going on in the death eater camp after all.

The second day however had seen a seriously pissed off and angry Weasley matriarch floo him about disrespectful goblins sneering at her and telling her that the Prewett account she had been using for a while had been closed down and the money that should have been deposit there had in fact not been paid. This was another time that the goblins were involved, and it gave him a very bad feeling. Yet the will reading was approaching, and he had received his invitation already, so he figured he'd find out more there.

With any luck it would help solve all his problems at once. If Harry was there, the boy would have to be dragged back, whatever revelations he might have had would have to be obliviated, all the more easily thanks to Severus ripping the boy's natural occlumency barriers down. Oh how those had become a pesky nuisance over the years when Albus failed to get more than brief glimpses of most recent memories with passive looks despite all his practice. At least the boy didn't know that legilimency with a wand and without a vow of privacy would entail a ten year trip to Azkaban per use. Passive legilimency was at least grey area, since the ministry had not been able to monitor it.

When the day finally arrived, Albus Dumbledore made sure he had everything he needed. His wand ready, his spectacles still carrying the receiving portion of the two-part charm to detect Harry's invisibility cloak wherever it might be roaming, and a portkey back to Hogwarts to his office to slip onto Harry as soon as he found the boy and got him out of public view.

His good mood was ruined as soon as he was escorted to the meeting room however. Not only was the presence of Amelia Bones a dangerous sign, but there were two Black sisters present at the will reading, while he had expected only one. At least it wasn't Bellatrix. Narcissa and Andromeda were sitting as far away from one another as they could, but Andromeda was keeping an eye on Nymphadora which meant Albus couldn't rely on her help in this case.

The primary beneficiary's seat was empty, which left Albus somewhat thoughtful. The will reading was only taking place now, so Harry should be here if he had managed to slip out with goblin help, a conclusion that seemed most logical. The Malfoys would try and challenge the will, but he was reasonably sure he could manage as the Chief Wizard of Wizengamot to make young Mr. Malfoy back off. After all, having both Potter and Black fortunes for his warchest would definitely help Dumbledore's later plans.

"Ahh, Miss Bones, I did not expect you to be in attendance. I would likely to kindly remind you that only invited members should be present, and that if Ministry requires someone present I am more than capable of working in that role as well as standing in for Harry Potter." He spoke in a calm tone but hoping to get her to recognize that she had no place here, and hopefully the goblins would get her out before the will came up with its possibly unpleasant comments.

"I would have to agree, only invited members should be in attendance, which is why I am here actually, the invitation came as a bit of a surprise but the goblins have already confirmed it is authentic." Amelia's tone was conversational but those eyes of hers nailed him like a falcon staring at a field rabbit. She didn't like his tone and he got a feeling under that gaze like he was a bad-mannered young schoolboy before his mentor oh so long ago, about to be spanked. It was amazing what a level of threat she could level with a glare.

Before he could really argue about her presence any more however the doors were opened by a host of goblin guards escorting a senior goblin man with a necklace of sharpened teeth hanging from it. This definitely caught Albus' attention. Ragnus, the Goblin Director's own son was an up and coming figure in the Gringotts bank, but he did not deal with customers usually. At least, people hoped they wouldn't deal with them.

"Due to the contents of this will, the Director Ragnok has insisted on additional security to be in effect. Be warned that in addition to the usual penalties for drawing a wand without permission during this meeting, that act will be considered an act of aggression towards Gringotts itself, and by goblin law on goblin territory said individual will pay with their life. Keep that in mind and your wands where they are, do not draw them unless you have received permission for it, and we can keep things civil." The goblin man's tone brooked no arguments, and Albus found himself silently cussing in his mind. It would be difficult to argue against the Goblin Security Chief. The fact he was the director's son might have made it seem like nepotism, but Albus knew better. Ragnus had earned his position, and fought for it. This was a goblin Albus did not want to tempt fate with.

"I hold here the will of Sirius Orion Black, the Head of the Most Ancient and Noble House of Black. It has been verified and witnessed, and will step into effect here today. We have verified that with the exception of Lady Bellatrix Lestrange nee Black all named people are present." This confused Albus as he was certain that Harry would be named in the will, unless, of course, it was possible that Sirius had for once listened to him and left him to tend to Harry's inheritance until Harry was old enough.

"The primary beneficiary has already had a private will-reading, and approved of it. This was done as per according to the old laws of non-interference with succession of the Sacred Twenty-Eight." The smirk on the goblin's face as he delivered that bit of news was quite understandable, as it definitely set off a bomb in the room.

"That's impossible! I'm the closest male heir, I should be the main beneficiary! In fact, I chal-" The blonde youth had jumped on his feet only to be yanked back into his seat by his mother, Narcissa, who swiftly covered his mouth with her other hand while whispering to his ear. His paleness at what she was telling suggested she was just reminding him of the rules governing a challenge against the old laws. Death, and not a quick and easy one either. Narcissa was the sole reason he was still alive and free.

Albus Dumbledore didn't like it any better though. Not only did that mean that his fears about Harry having slipped from his fingers were true, but it meant that Sirius had got his will and if the Director and his son were involved then Harry had new resources at his disposal that would make tracking him very inconvenient.

He idly noted that not only were the Weasley family there, but so was the Granger family. Not just Hermione escorted by the Weasleys as he would have thought, but her own parents were there. That was a touch unusual, goblins did not tend to include muggles to will-readings, even squibs were a rarity, muggles being present at the will-reading of a family as powerful and old as the Blacks was practically unheard of.

Then the guards settled in place, and Ragnus cleared his throat, seeming to command silence and respect from everyone in the room. Molly Weasley looked like she had wanted to object but she knew better than to interrupt so soon after Draco's earlier outburst almost saw them all witness someone committing suicide by insulting the old ways before a goblin security chief.

As the will reading began, Albus winced as he heard the extent of Sirius' paranoia about falsified wills, but then again given that he was dealing with people like the Malfoys, perhaps it was well warranted, he thought to himself. He noted Amelia look thoughtful however, and focused on listening himself.

What followed was definitely a victory for the light. Lestrange and Malfoy families financially crippled, and two powerful marriages tying their names to the Blacks was something worth celebrating. The fact Nymphadora's mother was on the receiving end of a fortune and a new connection with her old family was also worth rejoicing. Perhaps Albus should spend some time convincing Andromeda to contribute, and surely young Nymphadora would help convince her of Albus' intentions.

Draco however looked almost purple with rage, which was not made any better by the snickering coming from Ronald Weasley who was grinning from ear to ear, or the self-satisfied look on Molly Weasley's face either. Well, the hostility between the Weasleys and Malfoys was nearly legendary, so this much was just expected.

While they were being escorted out there was a short moment of pause, and Albus briefly considered about inquiring about Harry, but the stern look on the goblins face gave him the impression that he really should not try and interfere. Sighing wearily, he remained seated and waited as the will reading began anew.

If he thought that Sirius' will earlier was beneficial to the light, he found himself wondering about the next parts. Sirius knew a fair share, and here he was surrendering all that information in Amelia Bones' hands. Based on the attentive look on her face now she was going to make full use of it too. The money left to her was also a mistake in Albus' opinion, he could have spent it much more wisely.

The gift to Nymphadora was far more restrained, but should help her feel more at ease, especially with her mother's newly gained wealth as well. From the looks of it, Nymphadora was incensed at being called by her name but at the same time smiling and leaning to her mother. Perhaps the one way to get away by calling her that was by doing it in your will. It might be she just didn't see the point of shouting at a man who was already gone.

The gift to Remus was met by a teary-eyed old man who nodded solemnly at the request to look after Harry. That gave some measure of relief to Albus, since asking Remus that meant he wouldn't be sending Harry away anywhere. That was part of his concern, even now he had no idea where Sirius' little tropical hideaway was, the place was so well protected only his Phoenix had found Sirius there earlier, and from what he had heard Harry's owl was another exception.

For a moment of hope, there was a definite pit of despair following right after however. Sirius' verbal onslaught on the Weasleys had more than one pair of eyes widening, and Molly looked on the edge of throwing the most fierce tantrum an adult woman could throw and Ronald Weasley wasn't far behind with his own temper either. He thought insulting Molly's and Ron's behavior was bad enough, but that was only a start.

"HE DID WHAT!?" Hermione's father shouted while glaring at the red-haired Weasley fiercely, gritting his teeth and hands clenched into fists. It was good that man did not have a wand or he would have drawn it then and there. Hermione herself was shocked and appalled, but swallowed quickly while speaking.

"Love potion. Merlin, they were going to- I'm going to be sick." She leaned to her mother who patted her back and glared at the Weasleys who looked like they were caught red-handed, though noisily trying to deny it.

"He's lying, we never-" Ron began to shout while Ragnus cleared his throat loudly. "-planned any of that, Honest Hermione, Sirius is just lying-" He tried to continue when Ragnus cleared his throat louder still, and the approaching goblin guards made Molly clench a hand on Ron's mouth to muffle his words for the moment.

"If you can hold still until the end of the will reading, please?" Ragnus stated sternly, before continuing. As nobody spoke, Ragnus did and Molly and Ron were growing paler yet as Sirius' will outlined the fact there was evidence of the Weasleys attempt awaiting with other evidence in that damnable vault that Sirius had left to Amelia Bones. Based on the stern look she had on her face, Albus would have to call in a lot of favors to stop this from going to court. Based on the looks on the Granger family he would also have to practice some obliviations and perhaps a loyalty charm or two on the girl afterwards.

Thankfully the next part directed at the Grangers seemed to give them something else to think about, though the suddenly thoughtful, greedy look on Ron's face while looking at Hermione did not go unnoticed by the girl who shuddered with a renewed disgust at the idea of what had been mentioned a bit earlier. Ronald Weasley managing to fool anyone on something this huge seemed unlikely given his short temper, and while he wasn't as bad as Hagrid he wasn't exactly the best person to keep a secret. The thought actually worried her, as Hermione found herself wondering how in Merlin's name both she and Harry were still his friends after his betrayal in the fourth year and the way he treated them both all too often.

Then the bomb dropped on Albus Dumbledore's lap, metaphorically, and he found himself looking like a deer in the headlights freezing stiff as Sirius lined out what he had learned, and brought it out in public. No, this could not be, those things were not meant to be known, they were his secrets, they were meant to stay secrets! The mention of Grindewald and the muggle bigots was a low blow, and he found himself amazed how the man was going for the jugular when it came to him. He was Albus Dumbledore, he demanded respect not ridicule. Unfortunately he found the goblins were watching him and fingering their weapons handles in a way that kept him from leaping up to protest. They wouldn't, would they? He really did not want to tempt fate with that, not with Ragnus involved.

The fact he dared to mention the horcruxes had Albus paler than his beard, and for once he was actually glad he forgot to bring any lemon drops with him, he would have surely choked on them if he had one in his mouth on what he was hearing. Preposterous! Albus Dumbledore had done his research, Sirius must have fallen prey to some hack writer, clearly the man had no author bias. No, that wasn't important, what was important that Amelia recognized the word, that look on her face too, this wasn't good, oh Merlin this was a nightmare.

Then came the statement about reading both his and Severus' minds. The jumping rise of her eyebrows on Amelia's face was something rare to see, but Albus missed it as he was too shocked to look anywhere but Ragnus who was grinning in a predatory manner, seeming to be feasting on Albus' suffering and pain in those moments. The damn bastard was enjoying every moment of Albus' fall, oh Merlin this was way too big to sweep under the rug and preach about forgiveness and second chances. Sirius had really screwed him over in his death.

Mundungus had been listening intently, quite pleased to hear secrets that would surely be worth a drink or two to the right people, or even some galleons, but then it came his turn and while he had half-expected to receive a few sickles and an insult or two, he was left in a state of shock at hearing what Sirius had done. The thought of all those fences, those suppliers, the people he did business with. Who all had he sold some of the trinkets to when he went stealing around the Order hideout earlier? He didn't remember.

This was not good, Dung had spent a lot of money on a 'sure thing' that turned out to be faulty, and he actually owed a bit of money he had borrowed in order to make a bigger profit, and now he couldn't trust in his usual fences if they might be looking for him thinking that Dung had cheated them. Oh damn, if One-Eye John was among them he was as good as dead, the elderly wizard was a cackling madman but had contacts all around. If John thought Dung had cheated him, then Dung would be floating down the river Thames soon without a breath or a pulse.

Albus Dumbledore was almost too numb to even notice the last part of what Sirius said to Harry, but Molly Weasley sure wasn't. Even the goblins winced at the resulting shout rising from her throat.

"WHAT!? SCARLET WOMEN AND GAMBLING, I OUGHT TO HAVE NEUTERED SIRIUS WHEN I HAD THE CHANCE! This can't be, ALBUS TELL THEM IT CANT BE ALLOWED! Harry can't be fornicating with scarlet women, he belongs to Ginny and you know it, WE GOT TO PUT A STOP TO THIS!" She screamed the last part while Ginny looked stunned and her face was matching her hair, one might have thought it was embarrassment if not for the hateful expression and anger glinting in her eyes.

"Harry wouldn't do that, he's mine, and if he did I'm gonna hex his bollocks to shrivel up! He's mine, mine I tell you, mine!" She stomped her feet on the floor, the two of them seeming hysterical, before Ragnus nodded, and suddenly the two of them slumped down unconscious on their seats. Still shivering and pale, Mr. Weasley nod his thanks to Ragnus while putting away his wand, having made the gesture for the stunner spell with his finger as a hand sign to the goblin with another hand over at his side where his wand was. Having got the permission, he had done the only thing he really could do. Save his family from any further humiliation, shame, and penalties. Clouded and addled by potions as his mind was, he could tell it was either this or a goblin blade that lay ahead if their ranting wasn't stopped soon.

Albus was looking at his lap, wondering if there was any way at all, anything he could do, any dirty trick or favors he could call in that could help him out of this mess. He needed Harry back, he needed Harry here, he needed to be free to act and he needed certain secrets to stay secrets not get loudly announced at a gathering where he did not command the total loyalty of everyone present. This was monumentally bad.

The mention of the Potter will actually slipped past his notice in the state he was in, a fact he would regret in the coming months and years. Seated there, he was too stunned to really move even as the Grangers got up, before Hermione stepped up before him.

"Regretfully, headmaster, I must announce my withdrawal from Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry and pursue my future education elsewhere. As I have already completed my OWLs and obtained wand-rights I believe that is my right and choice, and I cannot under these circumstances return there." She stated this with an almost dead tone, no respect, no awe, no adulation. Hermione Granger was one of the more fanatical supporters he had in the younger generation among the muggle-born given the carefully selected reading list that she had been provided, the right materials to lead her to the right conclusions, the occasional nudge and even the show of trust in the third year with the gift of a Time Turner.

If she no longer stood behind him, who would? For once, he felt his years on his back and shuddered to thing what the fallout from all of this would be. This would definitely ruin a lot of his carefully laid plans, and force him to likely expend the majority or even exhaust his supply of favors owed and require him to pay large bribes himself to avoid being ruined permanently. It would perhaps be possible to mitigate this somehow enough to make it seem like a huge mistake but an honest mistake and that was all, something he could apologize, repent for, and sweep under the carpet when nobody was looking.

That was when Ragnus stepped up before him and crossed his arms. "Mr. Dumbledore, I am here to inform you that your vaults are frozen pending the completion of an investigation for fraud, grand theft and larceny. You are also detained for at least the next two hours while we confirm whether or not we can accuse you ourselves, but I am certain the ministry won't keep the goblin messenger waiting too long before they learn that we hold their Chief Wizard under arrest of this sort." The smirk on his face mirrored the paleness on Dumbledore's face. The last time they tried to make the goblin messenger leave by having him wait 2 whole days before giving in.

Just as Albus Dumbledore's day was being ruined at Gringotts, the screaming, hateful family of Dursleys was being escorted to a police van in cuffs by a number of armed officers, treating the family like the worst criminals, marching them forth with cameras filming this and people snapping pictures.

"What did they do?" A curious neighborhood gossip, Mrs. Merrywether from number six, inquired from a nearby man who seemed like an official standing besides the police arresting the rowdy family.

"Oh, I am terribly sorry but I shouldn't be saying anything." He stated a bit evasively but looked at her as if appraising her for something. "But I am sure you can keep it a secret, right?"

"Oh, of course I can, my lips are sealed, definitely. I would just like to know as I lived right next to them all these years. It wasn't that ruddy juvenile delinquent of theirs was it?" She frowned a bit while inquiring about the lad that hadn't been seen for a while.

"Yes, it was partially because of the many crimes of young Dudley Dursley, really, running his own gang and trying to sell weed for the older boys and acting tough brandishing a pocket knife at younger kids, he should be grateful he gets in trouble now rather than later. He still has hope to survive with just a few years in the juvenile detention center, but if it was any later he'd probably go to prison for all of it. But no, the main thing here is fraud, grand theft, and child abuse committed by all three members of the family." The man helpfully clarified, purposefully misunderstanding who she meant and pointing out towards the truths.

"Dudley? But his parents insist it is all Harry's fault, their nephew-" She looked a bit surprised and confused for a moment, earning a friendly smile and a shake of his head from the young official who leaned in to whisper to her ear a bit loudly.

"Actually, young Mr. Potter comes from a very wealthy family that left everything they own to their son, to be kept in trust until he was of age. Unfortunately someone messed up and he ended up with his relatives who have since then been frauding the said trust by removing money to pay for their own extravagant lifestyle while beating and abusing their nephew and the real heir. They planned to have him so down-trodden he'd sign away his inheritance when the time came to get away from it all. Not only that, but the poor boy's parents were so wealthy they owned the company that his uncle worked for, and that was part of the reason the very rude and crude man there did not get fired despite the fact he kept harassing his secretaries, stealing from the firm, charging ridiculous things on the expense account and demanding undeserved promotions while insisting he was a large shareholder."

The way the woman's eyes widened on learning that was almost comical, while the young official nodded his head seriously, speaking in a louder yet voice while seemingly carried away.

"So you can see why these child-abusing thieving con-artists who intended to rob their poor nephew of his rightful inheritance and probably murder him off in the aftermath have little hope of returning. Thankfully the boy managed to flee and get in touch with the right people. It seems that a lot of reports got suppressed and faked earlier so obviously they have got their hands in some corrupt business, bribes have exchanged hands and the tax-fraud, oh I doubt I've ever met such _freaks_ before, they really _flaunt the laws of common decency_ and make _normal people_ like us suffer for their greed! Good riddance to bad rubbish I say!" He nodded his head shortly, before heading towards a nearby car.

A nearby cameraman smirked silently at the tip he had received, the local news would definitely be interested in this, and the tape could be worth a fortune. This was something that would make the national news if not even further. A case of this scale did not occur often.

 **= End of Chapter 4 =**

A/N: Despite my initial intensions, I found this chapter growing full even without the Potter will being read and discussed here. I also found myself focusing a lot more on Dumbledore than I intended, having originally thought on trying to write several different points of view at once. Unfortunately it became a confusing mess, and I set it aside as the first draft and decided to try something else. Likewise a longer, more at length section of looking around for Harry had to make way for other things, given how little it actually added to the story.

That being said, I do hope I still managed to entertain with what I put together into the chapter itself. This one grew a bit larger than the usual limits I try to keep it in, but I am still intent to try and maintain some 3-4k chapter size, with 4k+ optional but trying to at least stop it before 5k of text in a chapter. Suffice to say, it is part of the learning experience that sometimes chapters wary in size and I shouldn't try and impose too stiff artificial limits .

The next chapter will deal with Harry's arrival and the start of his stay in the States, while the future chapters after that will deal with both him and the fallout of the will readings in the magical Britain. The initial arc in Britain is over, the immediate set up will be done with the next chapter, and the intervening years will be next. Once those are done, I intend to move forward with the Vegas arc of the story.

That being said, I rather agree with the few comments made on it, I would prefer to avoid a massive harem or coven, it can be interesting at times to consider such but very difficult to write properly without it becoming a mess. I am somewhat inclined to keep it to Harry/Raven pairing, but consider the possibility of 1 or 2 others joining up, though that is very much in the air and under thought at the time.

I am considering the option of having others appear, from DC verse and HP verse, that would become part of a coven, but keep it so that the only relationship is with either just Raven or the 1-2 others, the Coven acting more as a social group or a possible team to deal with some threats in later times.

I've read a fair share of stories where Dumbledore always manages to slip through the cracks and restore status quo seemingly without effort despite how bad he is exposed before. Even for someone who has held a lot of people's respect before that seems unlikely when a lot of things are exposed that it would be possible for them to suppress all of it, not without making some rather morally questionable deals at least, and even then there comes a point where its seems implausible for them to have any method to escape the consequences.

Now, as for how I intend to progress about things, if Dumbledore will have some aces to pull from his sleeves or not, if he can wheel and deal with all that has been brought on to the surface, that remains to be seen, now doesn't it?

None of the characters are perfect, always right and correct, and flawless super-humans. If they were, they would be rather dull to read about anyway.

On another note, due to a bit of confusion in one of the reviews, I'll try and clarify: Harry offered 1/4th of the assets claimed by his Right of Conquest, the oath he took before the old laws and magic, not 1/4th of his total assets and wealth. He offered the 1/4th there because even if its 1/10th of the wealth of those families that pledged their loyalty to Voldemort there is likely to be some work establishing exactly who all that includes and that leaves the Goblins with a lot of work and potentially aggravated clients, although they did (perhaps reluctantly but still) tithe that much to their leader, a fact which Harry is now making full use of.

That means that if Harry's total wealth is say, 50 million Galleons so far, and the 1/10th from the richer death eater families amounted to say, 200 million galleons more, Harry would receive 150 million and be a very wealthy wizard indeed. On the same turn, if those same followers worded their oaths so it only affected their main vaults and they kept those only 'reasonably' stocked, it could be Harry has 50 mil in his own accounts while the total haul of the Death Eaters only amounts to 5 million, of which he'd receive 3,75 million galleons from then.

As for Harry knowing or not knowing his total wealth, given he went through the books _he_ knows in person, but I'm not stating it out loud in the story so far so the reader does not know an exact total. Suffice to say, he's wealthy enough the goblins treat him as a priority client. V.I.P customer, someone who's affairs and business take priority in a crisis, that must be handled even if another account would suffer for it.

Phew. Anyhow, Chapter 5 is in the works, I will see if I can continue the pattern and put out the 5th chapter on the 5th day or not. I had a fair idea of the start, and on the Vegas arc I have my plans already in place other than the confirmation on the pairing, but on the intervening years I am still wondering what all to write and exactly how. I have the basic plotline and a number of things I could write about, but the problem is picking what to bring up and what to leave out. Seeing as Hermione's attempting to leave Hogwarts behind, and Albus has his hands full, and then there's the matter of Voldemort, Snape, and several others.

Nevertheless, the next chapter will take us away from Britain and following Harry once he makes his landing, and sets off to establish a new life. Also, potentially first touches with DC verse, we'll see.

EDIT: Had to return to this chapter to edit a few more awkward typoes that slipped past in the earlier write-up and review, only coming up after the chapter had already been posted. I really should get a beta at some point I figure.


	5. Chapter 5

**Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter. I don't make any profit from this story. This is fan-fiction.**

 **= Chapter 5 =**

Harry Potter had never really cared for most of the magical means of transportation. He was a natural on a broom but floos and portkeys tended to act up with him, or perhaps it was a matter of getting used to their quirks. Although he had listened to the twins talking about how to land after a portkey onto your feet it required practice, and the longer the trip the more disorienting it could get, and only people who had used them several times already stood much of a chance to land with dignity.

So it was not exactly unexpected that Harry Potter's arrival after a 2 hour port-key trip was a smashing failure, slamming to the ground on his side and barreling on until he hit a wall. A painful groan rose from his lips as he slowly opened his eyes, finding himself in a white-walled room with circular design, the middle of which housed what seemed like a large dartboard, with a central target and zones around it.

At least there didn't appear to be anyone there to see his ungraceful landing. Trying to stagger up to his feet, he noted the room had either a ceiling spelled to look like the open skies, or it actually had an open sky to it. Given it appeared to be raining at the time but none of the water was falling into the room itself, he was inclined to think it was the first option. Then again, magic made a lot of things possible.

"Ahh, Mr. Potter, correct? I thank you for being prompt with your arrival, while we do understand delays happen it is always more respectful to act swiftly," a voice stated in a slightly amused though official manner. Harry rubbed his head a bit embarrassed figuring that perhaps his tumbling had actually been witnessed by someone after all.

Standing there was a man in a simple white shirt with dress pants on and fine shoes, wearing a name badge marking him as an employee of the DoMA-T, or Department of Magical Affairs, Travel section. Local customs, he figured. Still, the man was smiling and while he was holding a clipboard, he did not seem stuffy or a stuck up prick.

"Yes, I'm Harry James Potter. I got my portkey here and I have my papers in my trunk which is shrunk in my pocket at the moment. May I draw my wand to return it to its full size to retrieve them?" He figured being polite and checking first was the best way to go about this. The man might not seem stuffy and strict with rules but he did not want to give them a reason to change that.

Despite how dizzy and sore he was left from the trip over the Atlantic, he was also amazed that a portkey could cross that distance in two hours compared to seven or eight hours by an airplane. Of course the fact remained that an airplane would not have made him feel as uneasy as that spinning around did. He was pretty sure that he could not eat anything for a few hours until his stomach had settled from that spin.

Nevertheless, the paperwork was started and Harry Potter faced the reality that he would never want to become an Auror, or any other ministry official. The sheer amount of paperwork, in triplicate in some cases, was staggering and he was here with most of his papers pre-filled and his identity confirmed by the goblins. It still took another two hours for him to finish up with the sheets of paper he was handed along with a pen. Thankfully it was not all in parchment and quills, he had inquired on it on the side and learned that traditionalists still liked them, but they were far too visible and clumsy for everyday use.

He was grateful for that at least. He could understand wanting to put a bit more time and effort in crafting invitations or writing a formal letter to someone with parchment and quill, but for paperwork that would have been murder, especially with accidental inkblots all over the dry parchment. It would not have been the endless fights with dark wizards as an Auror that would have gotten to him, it was the paperwork.

Finally he was done, with his wrist aching a little but the officials satisfied, and his papers returned to him along with a few new things. A map of the Magical Districts in the United States, an ID card that he was to present to police if he ever got arrested for anything and needed the Department of Magical Affairs to step in, and a thin booklet about important things for a newcomer to keep in mind in the United States both on the magical and non-magical sides.

"Very well Mr. Potter, let me be the first to welcome you to our fair Nation. Your request for sanctuary has been granted and verified, your identity is now confirmed, and you are free to set off. I would advise you to take the time to study your new guide a bit however, and start off on the magical side while getting used to things. You can exchange some galleons, sickles and knuts into the non-magical currency at the automated teller by the exit if you need to." The man smiled while escorting Harry to a lobby from where he could walk out to the streets and just join the masses, practically anonymous here for the time being.

However, he saw a couple of other arrivals, some of them in robes, some of them dressed in a non-magical fashion, studying similar guidebooks or pamphlets, some of them seeming to be smiling in amusement, while others looked more than a little outraged. Wondering what could spark such a reaction, Harry decided to take a moment to sit down and at least flip through the contents.

The guidebook proved to be enchanted with a lot more pages than it seemed to have on the outside, quickly convincing him it would be a bad idea to try and read it all here on the spot. He should study it over a few days time, to not get overwhelmed probably, but a few things stood out just looking at the chapter names.

While the non-magical battle between the native Americans and the newly arrived colonists ended up with the native Americans retreating to reservations, the magical side of the conflict was far more one sided. To put it simply, the British magical folks were trashed, trounced, and in some cases, scalped and slain. The native magical folk had proven their might, and even hidden large sections of the land away from the new arrivals, much larger than the sections of land hidden around Britain from the looks of it.

Still, they had recognized how things were going and the fact that a lone magical could not do much against countless men brandishing strong weapons. Shield charms only held so much at once, and many non-magical weapons vastly outranged a wand, staff or other such foci. Not to mention many of the native magical practiced ritualistic magic that took some time to work together, but had far more long-lasting effects.

Nonetheless, it seemed that pureblood idealism had never really got rooted into the States at that time. Later on with the end of the civil war, a number of Europeans had brought with them the same beliefs that others had fled away from, muggle-born and half-bloods in particular, or first-born and spirit-touched. The purebloods, or spirit-born as they seemed to be referred to by the native magical folk in most cases, were just as respected as the others, the status merely implied whether or not the spirits had touched or embraced their family before, gifting them with magic according to their teachings.

Nevertheless, it seemed that during the rise of bigots in the non-magical side in the form of the Klux Klux Clan the pureblood bigots had tried to stage a coup on the magical side. The end result had seen many of them killed. Unlike Dumbledore's second chances speeches and stunners, the native magical folk treated any such aggressors like a hostile tribe. If it came down to it, they were more than willing to put down such hate-mongers, though they tended to leave children alive with their mothers if they were not already tainted by the same hatred. What happened if they were was left unmentioned, he noted with a chill.

Eventually the pureblood movement accepted the way things were here, and began calling themselves traditionalists, following some of the old ways but without the same bigotry, merely trying to maintain that some magical families had gathered more secrets and lore than the first-born could even think of during their early introduction to the magical side of the world.

The next thing that there was no official statute of secrecy. Wizards and Witches were expected to be careful about using magic in public, but it was only to a reasonable degree. Thankfully the amount of superheroes acting in the open in the country seemed to leave them willing to accept that some people might have a little ability or two, but preferred to live a rather normal life if they could. Of course, in some cases it might require contacting the Department of Magical Affairs to help remove evidence of an event that had taken place, but for most part it was a semi-open secret. Magical folk didn't flaunt their abilities and in turn they got mostly left in peace, being citizens like any other.

Harry found himself perusing through a number of pages before realizing his stomach had finally settled and began to growl for some food, reminding him that he needed to secure his lodgings for the next few days before the transfer was completed. Then he could consider going house-hunting. Nevertheless, he needed some dollars to get by in the muggle, or non-magical side as he found himself starting to prefer calling it, and made his way to the automated teller the official had mentioned. Quite useful, he thought to himself while exchanging a handful of galleons to dollars, finding himself a bit puzzled about how to carry it without a proper wallet before he found himself visiting a nearby shop for a simple money clip.

Taking a cab was a new experience to him but the guide book made it seem an everyday occurrence here. The price wasn't too bad either. He handed it as well as a small tip as advised by the guidebook at the end of the journey, having found the address in the guidebook easily enough.

A small seemingly unnoticeable cafe with a few clients outside and a few more inside, it did not seem out of place other than how peacefully quiet it was compared to the hectic state of the rest of the city. Harry merely walked on forth to the counter, casting a look at the somewhat older man with a thick moustache and a friendly smile. "Welcome, passing through or stopping for a moment?" The man gestured at the coffee pots and even a few pots holding hot tea in them it seemed, as well as the confections on display.

Reminded of his stomach's grumblings earlier, Harry offered a polite smile in return. "Stopping by for a moment, then passing. Could I have a cinnamon bun, some tea, and if you have any, a slice of treacle tart?" He looked around without finding his favorite treat on immediate display, but given the shelving the man had for different confections he didn't think it impossible, especially given the presence of tea in addition to the more American choice of coffee.

"You are in luck, I have a few other customers originating from the old country so I stock up." The man smiled in a jovial manner while quickly moving to gather Harry's order together, setting them down onto a small wooden tray. "Right, anything else, and will it be cash or credit?" He inquired once again in an amused manner, while Harry blinked at the time, looking up the sum in the register. All in American dollars.

"Cash, and no that will be all. Thank you." Harry smiled while handing over a couple of small bills, before telling the man to keep the change. He didn't want to mix the non-magical coins with magical ones, he really needed to take some time to get a proper wallet here soon rather than relying on the money bag. "Do a lot of stores even on the magical side use dollars instead of galleons here?" He inquired a bit curiously as he was about to leave.

"Well the magical districts display both prices, and it costs more or less the same in either currency. This shop is semi-public so I can't list prices in galleons though I do accept them just the same, but the charms don't deter all non-magical folk. Though you learn to tell easily enough here." He smiled in a joking manner, though it seemed like their conversation didn't carry over to anyone else in the room, or if it did nobody paid it any attention.

Nonetheless, Harry sat down for a quick meal and then it was time to head off to the magical district. Visit to Gringotts was on his agenda, and then he'd have to look for a place for the next couple of days, as well as do his shopping here. He was looking forward to it though, it was like a heavy weight had been lifted from his shoulders once he had finally arrived.

The rest of the day saw him trying to get settled in and finding himself a bit puzzled, and a bit embarrassed as well as a few people noticed him looking around in wonder and chuckling or smiling slightly, while he heard one woman in a rather attractive summer dress whisper 'tourist' to the little girl at her side at her puzzled look and whispered question probably about Harry.

He had not let it discourage him though, taking in the sights and having confirmed at Gringotts New York branch in a quick order that he had arrived safely and was looking forward to exploring the States, he had then proceeded to look for a good place to stay for the next couple of days while reading, wandering around touring the magical district, and getting a little more settled in.

He spent most of the same evening reading inside his room at the local hotel, having rented a room for himself for the next three days time, and going over the few books he had laid his hands on during his initial shopping during the touring. Just looking at the potions books made him wish he had those at hand during the first year. Explanations to why a potion was stirred a particular way and why so and so many turns would work while one too few or too many might not, and why the different ways of cutting, slicing, grinding or crushing different ingredients was important, as well as the qualities of different kinds of cauldrons as well as glass vials, and more modern chemistry tools that could be put to use in potion making as well.

In fact, he was rather amused to note that the book actually encouraged the use of non-magical equipment stating that the cauldrons could be magically cleansed far easier than the non-magical folk might have been able to do, but they still retained a measure of exposure to different potions and ingredients over the years that might affect subsequent brewing attempts. Thinking back at the many cracked, greasy and dirty old cauldrons at Hogwarts for those students who managed to ruin their own store-bought cauldron before the end of the year he could only feel pity to those who had to make do with them. It might partially explain Neville's trouble, after ruining his first cauldron he had to rely on the already tainted ones there on forth.

The other books made Harry wince as he caught on the fact that his education was sub-standard at best here. He'd need to hire tutors to catch up, or face the fact that he'd be probably held back at least a year in most subjects. At least on the topic of Defense he was fairly sure he would grade well even for his own age group, although the wealth of information available here was impressive. Furthermore, there was a lot more spells listed in the books that he had never heard of before. There were notes which were considered 'light' and which were 'dark', but there was also a fairly large number of 'grey' spells there as well.

They did not seem to censor out the dark spells here, or force those dealing in dark goods to some dingy old alleys, it seemed rather that they attached a warning to the books about over-use of dark spells, and noted different 'cleansing' services as well as private methods to cleanse yourself properly from the lingering effects that using such 'dark' magic could cause. Most of it seemed harmless, and it even noted that the effect of using them faded even with time, it was only the overuse that could get dangerous and cause addiction. Moderation and common sense, rather than strict control and banning.

He did note the books did list out spells that were discussed in them openly but were marked illegal to use, talked about in theory and how to recognize someone casting them, as well as how to counter them in turn. There was a mention that such spells were still available for study by individuals without a criminal record if they could state a good reason and get approval from the Department of Magical Affairs. Spell-crafting in particular seemed to open doors to even magic deemed illegal, although coming with its own line of requirements.

Notably, the three unforgivable curses were marked as such, and a note was made that their use by anyone else but law enforcement official was punishable by severe fines to a life in prison, depending on circumstances. Using Imperio to prevent someone from killing another person might get you off with a heavy fine for not coming up with a better, more acceptable alternative, but would not get prison time. Using them for any more questionable activity was a quick way to end up on the Law Enforcement's most wanted list, and from the looks of things in the books, they took such casters down hard, taking them in alive _if reasonably safe_. Otherwise, the Law Enforcement could fight fire with fire, and kill to subdue those violating the laws around the unforgivable curses in particular.

Though he did not want the Death Eaters aware of where he was and coming after him endangering those around him, it was entirely possible that sooner or later Voldemort or Dumbledore would learn where he was, and when one found him, the other would find him as well no doubt. Dumbledore would find it a lot harder to operate in the States but Harry still needed to find ways to keep himself safe. Something to prevent portkeys or side-along apparition from working on him would be a good start.

As for the Death Eaters, he'd learn enough to protect himself, and perhaps the Law Enforcement would actually put them down hard here, hard enough that the bluster and all the muster of the Ministry of Morons... err, Ministry of Magic back in Britain couldn't demand the return of their Lords and Ladies who were 'wrongfully accused of crimes none of their stature could have committed'. That is, if they lived through the experience in the first place.

Harry found himself sleeping in a bit early afterwards, followed by waking up early the coming day, his internal clock still messed up by the time difference, and possibly in part the first experience with a long distance portkey. Still, even if he began the day late, he wanted to learn more of his new homeland and surroundings.

Taking the time to visit the stores, he found a number of clothes that would work in both the magical and non-magical side. Enchanted bits of clothing seemed quite common here, from a simple self-cleaning charm to charms to cool or warm around the wearer depending on the weather, to more protective charms that would help in case of an accident. There were even more expensive charms that would help protect from harm, make the pockets in an outfit act similar to a mokeskin pouch, but not as rare and expensive as actual mokeskin would be. Not quite as secure either as a trade-off, but the extra carrying space was still useful.

He found himself buying a few things, but reminded himself he would be taking the potions for a while and should not buy a full wardrobe until that was done and dealt with. He had, reluctantly, taken his potion in the evening before getting some rest, noticing that at least these potions didn't taste like Snape had soaked his worn socks in them before serving those potions to Harry.

Harry did find himself channeling Hermione in wanting to learn everything he could however, stocking up a wide range of books and inquiring about the possibility of getting his hands on even more, as well as enquiring about the education. He had received a list of schools that had quickly come under a rather serious perusal and consideration.

Of the various schools available, and it seemed a half-dozen of them was spread across the large nation, he found himself particularly interested in Salem Academy given its wide range of classes available. Unfortunately based on what he was reading he would indeed require tutors to be able to join along there, and that would not be possible at the fall semester at least, but he might, with intense study, be ready by Winter. If not, he could probably join along for the seventh year. He would have to write them a letter inquiring about the possibilities, but he'd also need to arrange for his tutors.

The thought about the mail made him think about Hedwig and wince as he realized just how mad she would be when she found him. Harry was not looking forward to her reaction when she caught up with him. The goblins at Gringotts would have delivered her safe in a cage with their own portkeys classing her as part of his possessions, a far gentler ride than his perhaps, but knowing Hedwig she had chosen to wing it over the Atlantic herself.

He would have been concerned if not for the written word on the magical owls. Truly they were remarkable, being able to endure long flights and cross distances in remarkably short time, homing in on their target. That was just for the more common mail owls, they would likely take a while on such a great distance and be exhausted and recovering a day or two at the end, but they'd make it across the ocean regardless. Hedwig, however, was far more than a common mail owl, in fact, Harry was by now pretty certain she was his familiar, given the closeness between the two. Unfortunately she seemed to regard him as her hatchling and could unleash the fury of a mother owl on her chick when he messed up.

The thought of that made him feel a chill like someone had just walked over his grave, tap-dancing. He'd have to find out about local owl treats, quality bacon slices, a more elegant perch for his smart girl, and a few more things to make sure he could convince her that he had not done it intentionally, having merely been so excited to get away from Dursleys he forgot to let her know beforehand.

She'd probably forgive him. Probably. He did know she would prefer to fly over rather than use any such uncouth means as a portkey, ruffling her feathers, but still, he should have at least told her in person and loaded her up with bacon beforehand to have her on a good mood and with plenty of strength for the overseas flight. Oh yes, Harry Potter had a fear of Mother Owl about him now, but he could only wait and face the jury on this screw-up.

"Better write up a few letters to these tutors if they have an opening for a new student then, to add to my appeasement by showing her the amount of work that would not get done without the most brilliant owl at my side," he muttered out loud while getting to work.

== ( Storm Phoenix ) ==

Zatanna had finished her show only to find a bunch of crooks committing a jewelry heist with the aid of a glove inscribed with runes that seemed to allow them to break into the safe and blast her to a wall with force as well before she managed to subdue them, all on her way back home. She was tired and just wanted to get to bed as she could, having taken the glove along to study it once she wasn't about to fall asleep on her feet. None of the crooks had even a hint of magic in themselves, so it was all in the glove, and that raised some concerns for her.

Nevertheless, as she made her way to the front door she found herself surprised by a loud hoot from a nearby tawny owl perched on the nearby window ledge. More particularly, she noted the sealed parchment tied to its leg that carried a number of privacy charms on it, earning a weary sigh from her as she realized her night was still not over. Holding out her hand she waited for the owl to land upon it, careful with its claw and well mannered, offering her the letter in question.

"Thank you, come along I'll get some water and a treat for you before the journey back." She smiled a bit trying to be polite, though the owl was a bit unwelcome guest she did recognize it was not the owl's fault she had a tiring day already and it was just doing its job. Based on the seal on the letter it had come quite a distance too, so she felt the need to play a good host.

Once the owl had some water to drink and a fair share of owl treats in a cup to eat before heading back, the tired magician moved to set the glove down to a glass jar that was inscribed with a few containment runes just in case, only then settling in to read the letter she had received.

 _"To Miss Zatanna Zatara,_

 _We at the Department of Magical Affairs are writing you to inform you as per our standing agreement about the arrival of one Harry James Potter, of the House of Potter, to the United States of America seeking sanctuary._

 _As this said individual is also known as 'the boy-who-lived' back in his country of origin, Britain, at least by the magical side of the populace he is also a target of some hostility by the class-3 terrorist organization 'Death Eaters' whom the Brits were reluctant to properly try and imprison in the aftermath of the hostilities in the first rise of the dark wizard Voldemort._

 _While we are not suspecting of Mr. Potter of any criminal activity or intentions his mere presence here may draw the more fanatical members of the said organization that we have learned was not disbanded but merely went underground in the aftermath of the last war to follow him to the States with intent to subdue, kidnap, or kill him._

 _Believing in the proverb that forewarned is forearmed, we wish you to convey this bit of news to your other contacts in the event that our young sanctuary seeker encounters any difficulties. Likewise, the paperwork he brought with him already verified by Gringotts suggest he is looking to further his education and may be seeking tutors in due time, and given your family reputation it is quite possible you may come in contact with him in due time._

 _Yours in Magic,_

 _Rebecca Traven, Secretary of Magical Affairs."_

She could not help but draw a long breath and sigh at this bit of news. Magical terrorists. That was an unpleasant thought. The Brits had really screwed the pooch with their failure to imprison or execute the said criminals, many of them escaped with hardly more than a slap on the wrist, and they wondered why the Americans wanted nothing to do with them.

She would need to inform the League about this, and knowing the man she was relatively sure that Batman would hardly be satisfied with what facts she could volunteer about this. The man would likely dig into the details and uncover far more. She really wished she had not even seen this letter until the next morning, because this was not going to help her get any peaceful rest in the coming night.

 **= End of Chapter 5 =**

A/N: And with that, it's a wrap on the starting arc, finishing up that bit of the tale. I ended up cutting down and summarizing a fair share of things while trying to maintain a modicum of feel of what is going on and how things start out for Harry, but after a couple of drafts that were disregarded this remained as the bit of writing I was willing to add to the unfolding story.

Timewise, this is taking place before the Will-reading even happened, but not by much. It is also showing where Harry stands, he wanted to get away from Britain, of Hogwarts, of the Dursleys, and away from Dumbledore and Voldemort alike, but his planning from that step on is at the basic level still.

Harry's new enthusiasm for learning comes from the realization he has a lot of catching up to do and that now he is actually able to move at his own pace, rather than being slowed down by having to maintain a poor grade to not outshine Dudley or to avoid upsetting Ron. Speaking of whom, without Ron at his side to drag him off to play wizard's chess he actually has the time to learn and study, and find things that do interest him. Harry's not a genius, but neither is he an idiot. Suppressed, more or less.

With bindings broken, and allowed a chance to act in his own best interests, he's starting a life in the States but finding himself with options he's got a lot to do. Looking around the country of where he wants to settle. Getting himself tutors. Getting his owl Hedwig to forgive him. Catching up with other students his age. Starting to actually live a life for himself.

Harry's got his feet on the ground and the paperwork in order, a fair sum of money to start off with, and a whole country to explore. There was a lot that could have been written here, but it would have quite likely turned to a cliched listing of every book, every piece of cloth purchased, as well as stating the difference between the societies at even larger degree. Instead, I decided to give some glimpses, summarize in parts, and move on a bit of way laying the ground work in place, and then move onto the coming years.

I noticed a comment suggesting he sought education from Zatarra, and potentially ended up with Zatanna later on in Vegas. I admit I thought the idea could be amusing, but from what I recall Zatarra is dead and only Zatanna remains of that lineage, unless I've missed something. Nevertheless I admit I find myself amused at the idea of involving Zatanna to some degree even if Zatarra is not present.

My piece of text dealing with the Teen Titans in this chapter ended up cut away as I decided to involve them so soon after Harry's arrival, though the sections dealing with them are waiting ahead. Also, on the First-born, Spirit-Touched, Spirit-born terms? Just a bunch of different terms discussed by some, I will still use pureblood, half-blood, and muggle-born on occasions just as well as the new terms. Traditionalists would make sure their terms are known, though the natives in turn speak more on their own terms.

I am going to take a short break to relax before continuing with this tale and the next chapter, so there will be no update tomorrow. I may have a new chapter up the day after though, depending on whether or not I manage to get the story flowing for the next arc as easily as I hope or not.


End file.
